Latest Data Shows Huge Impact of the Government Shutdown on Airlines and Our Customers

The latest data on the impact of the government shutdown on airlines and our customers:

• Yesterday (Nov. 8), according to analysis of FAA data, staffing contributed to 71% of total NAS delay minutes. Staffing-related delay minutes exceeded 184,000 - the highest of the shutdown.

• The staffing issues disrupted more than 4M passengers on A4A airlines from Oct. 1 through Nov. 7 (Nov. 8 pending).

• During the first 29 days of the shutdown, A4A member airlines canceled just 11 flights due to controller staffing issues; over the ensuing nine days, however, controller staffing issues caused them to cancel 1,271, including 865 on Nov. 7 (Nov. 8 pending).

• Of the 865 staffing-related cancellations, 752 were a function of the FAA directive to reduce 4% of flights at 40 airports.

• When the directive reaches 10%, A4A estimates a daily U.S. economic impact of $285M-580M, depending on the degree to which airlines can reaccommodate cancellation-disrupted passengers on the remaining flights.

• The estimate is tied solely to compliance with the flight-reduction directive; it does not include the ongoing staffing issues during the shutdown, the costs associated with value of passenger time, reduced bookings, passenger refunds, etc.

• Even those passengers who successfully reach their destination are encountering long departure delays, extended tarmac times, and highly unpredictable arrival times; many flight crews are timing out (flight-and-duty time) or missing connections.

• The staffing crisis has triggered broad secondary impacts-including late aircraft arrivals, crew legality issues, and equipment mispositioning-all of which prolong recovery, which will become worse as the directive phases up to 10% flight reductions.

• Unlike weather-driven disruptions that airlines prepare for and recover from, each controller shift change or facility staffing trigger adds hours of delay with no advance notice, undermining the airlines' ability to plan, staff or protect customers.

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