Copyright M Live Michigan
ROMULUS, MI - More than 30 flights at Detroit Metropolitan Airport were cancelled Wednesday as a federal government shutdown inches closer to a resolution. As of 3 p.m. Nov. 12, 32 flights at the Detroit-area airport, including 15 departures and 17 arrivals, were cancelled, according to data from FlightAware. Forty flights were also delayed. Nearly 900 flights across the U.S. were cancelled Wednesday, with airports in Chicago, Denver and Atlanta impacted the most, according to data from FlightAware. More than 1,200 flights were also delayed. Detroit Metro is one of 40 airports ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce flights as an increasing number of air traffic controllers are calling out of work. Controllers have been working unpaid since Oct. 1 because of the shutdown. The FAA implemented a 4% mandatory reduction in flights this past weekend, which is set to jump to 10% by Nov. 14. The U.S. House of Representatives is set to consider a bill to reopen the government on Wednesday, potentially ending the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history, the Associated Press reports. Democrats are expected to primarily oppose the bill because it does not have an extension of credits for Affordable Care Act health insurance. The House is expected to take up the bill around 7 p.m. Wednesday evening, the AP reports. Additional cancellations at DTW are expected on Thursday, according to FlightAware. Of the 856 flights across the country already cancelled, 30 of those are at Detroit Metro. Three delays are also already on the books. Those numbers follow 166 cancellations and nearly 800 delays at the airport over the weekend, part of more than 4,500 cancellations across the country, according to Flight Aware.
