Passengers faced growing frustration at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts Tuesday as dozens of additional flights were canceled because of the government shutdown.
The FAA ordered domestic airlines last week to drop 4% of their flights at 40 major U.S. airports, including Logan, saying absences and signs of stress among traffic controllers made it imperative to act in the name of public safety.
The goal for cutting flights is set to rise to 6% on Tuesday and again to 10% on Friday.
There were more than 60 cancellations early Tuesday at Logan, according to FlightAware, a day after more than 160 flights were canceled.
Rebecca Morris of Tewksbury, Massachusetts is heading to Florida for a vacation, but leaving Boston was a struggle.
“Proactively we were just kind of checking the flight statuses yesterday and we did get a notification that our flights were canceled on American and then we switched over to Delta for a direct flight this morning,” she told WBZ-TV.
It’s unclear exactly how many additional flights would need to be canceled Tuesday. The average cancellation rate over the last few days already exceeded the FAA’s requirement, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. The FAA also expanded its flight restrictions Monday, barring business jets and many private flights from using a dozen airports already under commercial flight limits.
However, controller shortages continued to lead to flight delays, including one of about five hours for arriving flights Monday evening at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where wintry weather added to staffing-related disruptions earlier in the day. The FAA warned that staffing at over a dozen towers and control centers could delay planes departing for Phoenix, San Diego, the New York area and Houston, among other cities.
Freezing weather in parts of the country on Tuesday could cause further delays and cancellations.
The Senate passed legislation Monday to reopen the government, but the bill still needs to clear the House and final passage could be days away. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made clear last week that flight cuts will remain until the FAA sees staffing levels stabilize at its air traffic control facilities.
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