Copyright CBS News
As the government shutdown enters its 41st day, flight delays and cancellations are mounting at DFW and Love Field, where new FAA flight reductions are stranding travelers and stretching air traffic controllers who continue to work without pay. On Monday, dozens more flights were reduced under the FAA's new mandate, requiring airlines to cut schedules by 10% because of air traffic controller shortages amid the shutdown. "Once I got in on Friday, I knew I was flying out Monday. It was going to be a little worse, and now I got here and 10 minutes before I was supposed to board, they cancelled my plane," said Teddy Starnes, who was traveling to Boston for work. Federal employees unpaid for over a month These shortages come as controllers and TSA agents continue working without pay. Many federal employees have not been paid in over a month, despite, in some cases, continuing to work overtime just like they had been prior to the shutdown. "It's frustrating, I feel bad for the people caught in the middle," said Heather Moore, who lives in DFW but was in New Orleans for work. "The TSA workers, it's nice that they're still here, still working for us even though they're not getting paid to do so, and there's no guarantee that they'll get back pay, but I just appreciate them." Air traffic was cut by 4% on Friday, but the FAA's order will require that number to jump to 6% by Tuesday and 10% by Friday, if the government shutdown continues. "The trouble is it's going to get worse," said aviation expert Kit Darby. "Ten percent is a fair amount, but as long as we don't have anything else, like weather or communication outages, all the things that we've dealt with, but if you combine anything like weather with this, it's going to be significant." FAA halts most non-commercial flights at DFW amid shutdown Monday, the FAA also closed most non-commercial air traffic at 12 major airports, including DFW. Darby said that this, on top of flight reductions, is going to have a large impact on the country. "People don't realize how many small airplanes are involved in our economy daily, so it'll affect everything nationwide. You won't realize it for a while, but these are responsible for a huge portion of our national business," he said. While the FAA's order closes the airport to general aviation and non-scheduled aircraft, there are exceptions for emergencies, medical flights, law enforcement and military operations. But with holiday travel fast approaching, Darby said time is running out for airports to bounce back. The FAA order on non-commercial flights is in place until 6 p.m. Monday. "If there's any way possible, they're going to get back to full capacity for Thanksgiving, assuming that the shutdown ends quickly," Darby said. "If it's next week, it's going to be even tougher, and of course, if it's still going on, it's going to be a real mess." CBS News Texas contacted UPS and FedEx regarding airport changes and whether they will be impacted, but both said most of their flights operate at night, so they will be able to continue operation without interruptions.
