San Antonio International Airport has so far dodged mass cancellations as the Federal Aviation Administration slashes flights to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers working without pay in the government shutdown.
Airlines were ordered to cut flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports by 4% on Friday and gradually ramp up to 10% by Nov. 14. Airlines are required to issue full refunds to passengers hit by the cuts.
San Antonio’s airport and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, where many San Antonians fly from, weren’t targeted by the FAA.
But not all area travelers will be spared from the chaos. Top destinations from San Antonio – such as Dallas, New York, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and Denver – all have airports where flights will be cut.
As of early Friday afternoon, only a handful of weekend flights – out of hundreds – were canceled in San Antonio, according to tracking service FlightAware.
The seven cancellations slated for Friday through Sunday were flights to or from airports targeted by the FAA: Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
The FAA said its goal is to “relieve pressure on the aviation system so that every airline can continue to operate safely” amid the country’s longest government shutdown. Many air traffic controllers are working six-day weeks with mandatory overtime.
Flight delays and long security lines have plagued major airports as air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees have been calling out at higher rates as the 38-day shutdown drags on.
The hundreds of cancellations in other parts of the state and country have left travelers and airlines scrambling to book alternate flights.
Savanthi Syth, an airlines analyst for financial services company Raymond James, said right now is a slower season for travel, so that means the airlines should be better able to rebook passengers on other flights.
Airlines expect limited disruptions this weekend and stressed that international flights are not expected to be affected. But the upheaval will intensify in the coming days and could become chaotic if the slowdown extends into the Thanksgiving holiday, just weeks from now. Even after this ends, it will take days to return to normal.
“Next week the airlines are going to have to say, ‘OK, the easy cuts are made. Now we’ve got to start making the difficult cuts,'” said industry analyst Henry Harteveldt.
San Antonio airport officials on Thursday said they didn’t know how the cuts could affect travel to and from the city, but they applauded federal workers for showing up to work at the airport at normal rates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article originally published at San Antonio airport sees handful of cancellations as FAA makes flight cuts.