More than 40 flights out of DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field were canceled Friday during the first day of federally imposed airspace reductions due to the ongoing government shutdown.
DFW Airport saw 32 cancellations Friday, and there were another nine at Love Field. DFW is the central hub of Fort Worth carrier American Airlines, which operates about 815 outgoing flights per day, while Love Field is the headquarters of Southwest Airlines.
Things were quiet at DFW Airport’s Terminal E Friday morning as flight cuts ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration took effect.
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Employees at a Delta Air Lines customer service desk seemed happy as a few travelers lined up to check their bags in. At the nearest TSA PreCheck security lane, lines were short as officers verified flyers’ identification. Down the hall, the lines for general boarding also seemed to be moving smoothly.
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The anticipated chaos seemed to be partly quelled by airlines cutting flights in advance of Friday. American cut about 220 flights per day across 40 airports between Friday and Monday.
“This is frustrating,” American CEO Robert Isom said in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “We don’t need to be in this position. We got to get the government back open so we don’t have to cancel flights. But what we’ve done today is we tried to minimize the impact on all of our customers.”
Isom emphasized that to start, the carrier focused on cuts that would impact its smaller aircraft that fly regional routes. “It’s more taking frequencies like Miami to Orlando from nine flights to eight flights or DFW to Corpus Christi from seven flights to six flights.”
U.S. transportation officials on Thursday confirmed preemptive flight cuts to reduce stress on the airspace system amid an ongoing government shutdown, when air traffic controllers and TSA agents are working without pay.
“We are seeing signs of stress in the system, so we are proactively reducing the number of flights to make sure the American people continue to fly safely,” Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. “The FAA will continue to closely monitor operations, and we will not hesitate to take further action to make sure air travel remains safe.”
Shortly after 7:30 a.m. Friday, the wait times at Love Field stood at a swift three minutes for general boarding and one minute for TSA PreCheck.
“Oh my gosh,” said Bradley Manion, 46, as she studied the general boarding line. “I guess we’re sitting today.”
Manion was traveling Friday to visit family in Denver, arriving at the airport nearly six hours before she could board her 1:15 p.m. flight.
“All you see online these days are these horror stories of people waiting hours and hours — missing their layovers or flights altogether,” she said. “I can’t believe this. I mean, I could’ve slept in.”
Adam Walsh, a teacher at The Episcopal School of Dallas, was a chaperone Friday for a group of a dozen girls headed to a mock trial tournament in Chicago.
It’s been a stressful few days, Walsh said, as he’s tried to craft contingency plans for every worst-case scenario: Switching airports, extra hotel stays or his students missing another day or two of school.
The tournament was set to start early Saturday, he said, meaning they couldn’t afford any unforeseen delays.
“If this flight would have been canceled, we would have been out all the money and all the time and all the prep that we’ve spent,” Walsh said.
“Now, can we get back on Monday? I don’t know.”
Walsh noted the government shutdown also caused a last-minute change of venue for the tournament. It was originally supposed to be held at a federal courthouse, which is now closed.
“We’ve had to change a lot of the things that we’re doing, so certainly it has impacted us,” he said.
The group’s flight out of Love Field was still on time as of 9 a.m. Friday. Expecting extensive check-in and boarding delays, they sat sprawled out on benches near the airport’s entrance, two hours too early.
“So far, so good,” Walsh said. “Let’s just hope it stays that way.”
At DFW Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth local Dewayne Handy, 55, was taking in the sights and sounds in the pre-security area of Terminal C as flyers eagerly lined up at the nearby American Airlines help desk.
Handy, who is traveling to Puerto Vallarta, was not affected by Friday’s flight cuts but said he was concerned when he first heard of them.
“Of course, there’s concern about the workers being that they’re not compensated, even though they’re required to come to work. So that was a concern, but even more so the safety, being that they play a major role in directing the flow of traffic.“
“Recognizing how this shutdown affects people so many different ways. Not just from people being compensated, but once again, the safety of the American people.”
Handy said he and his wife won’t be doing much traveling during the upcoming holiday season, but if they were, they probably would have canceled or made alternative arrangements.
Isom said that continued cuts would be “problematic.”
“It’s an incredibly complex environment that we deal in. So whether it’s planes that need to be maintained, or pilots that need to maintain currency, our crews, you know when you cancel a flight today they don’t simply pick up where they left off. They have to be totally rearranged.”
“We shouldn’t be dealing with all the complexity, the rework that’s going on. This is something where we got to get the government back open.”
US airlines cancel 1,000 flights while complying with shutdown order
Even as airlines adjust, nervousness remains as more canceled flights are coming over the next week.
Which flights were canceled at DFW Airport, Love Field due to shutdown reductions?
40 departing flights were canceled in North Texas. Was yours one of them?