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On Friday, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restrictions on air traffic at 40 major airports – including Baltimore Washington International Marshall, Dulles International, and Reagan National – will go into effect, and 7News learned new details about how they will be implemented. The FAA said Wednesday it would restrict flight traffic by 10% at the airports, but in a press release sent out Thursday night, the FAA clarified that the decrease in flights will be enacted gradually over the course of the next week. PREVIOUS | FAA will reduce flights at DCA, IAD, BWI, and more due to government shutdown staffing FAA officials said that a four percent decrease in flight operations will be put into effect on Friday. The decrease will become six percent by Nov. 11, eight percent by Nov. 13, and the full 10 percent reduction in flight traffic will be in place by Nov. 14. After Nov. 14, airlines will be fined $75,000 per flight over the limit, according to details obtained by ABC News. Major airlines said that in addition to offering refunds to customers whose flights are cancelled – which they are required to do – they will also offer refunds to customers who decide they don’t want to fly even if their flight is not cancelled. American (which has a hub at DCA), United (which has a hub at Dulles), Southwest (which has a large presence at BWI), and Delta have all said travelers can get a refund for flights in the near future, even if they are not canceled. Travelers should check with their individual airline for exact details on their policies. The FAA said its emergency order does not require airlines to cancel international flights; however, it will be up to each airline to decide which flights to cancel. United has said it will not cancel international flights or “hub to hub” flights. The airport manager at Dulles said Thursday the airline is trying to only cancel flights for which customers have options to rebook. “We’re making our selections in a way that’s the least impactful to the customers,” said Henry Bird, the managing director for United Airlines at its Dulles hub. “We’re looking to try to make sure that in our selection that we’re avoiding hub-to-hub travel, and that we’re avoiding international departures, because those are really hard for people to recover from.” “We’re trying to do it far enough in advance that it’s not a surprise, not happening while you’re at the airport,” Bird added.
