It’s being worse than expected: cancellations and 4-hour delays at US airports

There are no air traffic controllers; cancellations at dozens of airports. In one night, more than 5 thousand delays. And there is no end in sight.

O shutdown of the United States Government (USA) already go to 40 dias. It’s a record, the longest strike federal history of the country.

Among different sectors, the aviation is one of the most affected in recent days. The warning had already appeared last week: thousands of flights could be canceled from Friday (7th).

US airlines warned passengers that reducing traffic by 10% in 40 “high volume” markets could lead to flight delays or cancellations.

On Friday, the Secretary of Transportation of the United States (USA), Sean Duffy, confirmed that international flights will not be affected by the reduction in air traffic caused by the federal government shutdown.

But there are lots delays e cancellations. More than expectedas highlighted by . On Friday night alone, more than 5,300 flights they were late.

The following day, Saturday, 1,526 flights were canceled and around 6,500 were delayed.

There are no air traffic controllers. And this is causing delays and cancellations at dozens of airports, such as Atlanta, Washington, Houston, San Francisco, New York, North Carolina or Chicago.

The airports of east coast are being most affected. At the famous JFK airport, New York, the average delay was more than 2h30m on Saturday; and delays approached 100 minutes, almost 2 hours.

There “next door”, at Newark airport, the delays exceeded the 4h.

The US Department of Transportation has cut air traffic across the country by 10% – but the cut is likely to double (20%) because there is no solution in sight.

On Saturday, the president Donald Trump demanded that the Senate continue work throughout this weekend until an agreement is reached to restore funding to federal agencies and end the strike.

But this agreement is not in sight. Negotiations in the US Congress over an agreement to fund paralyzed state agencies have intensified, but Democrats and Republicans still differ significantly on how to end a shutdown that is already the longest in the country’s history.