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Air travelers should brace for a “chaotic” weekend ― and maybe longer ― as Trump administration officials impose flight reductions of up to 10 percent at 40 major airports across the country. And even though Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport isn’t one of those on the list, flights into and out of GSP could be affected, said Henry Harteveldt, a San Francisco-based airline industry analyst. In fact, Harteveldt said, “My concern is that GSP is going be hit badly.” That’s because he thinks airlines are likely to meet the reduction quotas by canceling smaller flights. “They’re going to cut regional jets first, so GSP may be affected disproportionately more than larger airports,” he said. As Harteveldt explained, the Trump administration’s move to reduce flights is in response to the government shutdown, which has air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration checkpoint workers going without pay. Some of them have decided to miss days of work or even leave their jobs to pursue other employment. “There’s a higher than average number of people calling in sick, and this is understandable,” Harteveldt said. Reducing the number of flights may help to alleviate the burden on air traffic controllers, Harteveldt said. And with that in mind, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is “looking at the number of aircraft in operation. A flight with 76 passengers is the same (for air traffic controllers) as a flight with 176 passengers. So cutting regional airline operations means a disruption for fewer people,” he said. By early afternoon on Nov. 6, airlines had not yet notified GSP officials about flights they planned to cancel or adjust, said communications manager Tiffany Cherry. Upstate companies working to meet needs of travelers Carol Hammond Curry, of Greenville-based Direct Travel said it’s “too early to tell” how the FAA’s plans will impact her clients. But she has gotten some calls from anxious travelers, and “we’ve been checking for updates on airline scheduling adjustments.” Jim Davis, director of business development for Axio, said the company, which is headquartered at Spartanburg Downtown Airport, has seen a slight uptick in requests for private charter flights. He said Axio plans to run “some online ads saying, ‘if you’re being affected, call us.’” Harteveldt advises travelers to subscribe to flight alerts and to airlines’ mobile apps. Cherry reiterated that advice: “We encourage passengers to check directly with their airline for the most up-to-date flight information.” Flight scheduling "like three-dimensional chess" for airlines Harteveldt said he speaks with industry insiders on a near-daily basis, and “the announcement yesterday took airlines by surprise.” He said scheduling of flights can be a long-range and complicated project. An individual jet might be used for numerous routes in a day. Each flight needs a crew as well as clearance at airports. Any disruption in the chain can throw an airline’s schedule off track. “It’s like three-dimensional chess – it's not easy,” Harteveldt said. “Scheduling operations teams were pulling all-nighters last night trying to figure out what to do.” He said that industry executives hope the Trump administration will allow for some flexibility – if air traffic control staffing is close to normal at one airport, then perhaps the FAA will require fewer flight reductions there and balance things out by cutting more flights at an airport with more severe workforce shortages. Regardless, Harteveldt said, “I’m not going to sugarcoat things: It’s going to be a very confusing, fluid, chaotic situation for the next few days.” Operations at GSP smooth, so far Over the course of the shutdown now more than a month long, Cherry said operations at GSP have run smoothly. To help federal workers at the airport make ends meet while they wait to be paid again, GSP launched a food drive. “Our airport community and the Upstate community have been very supportive,” Cherry said. Harteveldt worries that if Democrats and Republicans can't come to an agreement to end the shutdown, more air traffic control and TSA security workers are likely to stay home or quit. He said that federal airport workers receive a notice in advance of their next paycheck. “When they see it’s going to be zero dollars, that’s going to have an emotional impact.” The good news, Harteveldt said, is that early November is a relatively light period for air travel. But Thanksgiving, of course, is only a few weeks away. If the shutdown continues and “the FAA maintains or raises the cuts," Harteveldt said, "it could be enormously disruptive to people's Thanksgiving plans.”
