Flight Delays and Airport Impacts: November 13, 2025

Airline operations across the United States are still under pressure today, even as the government shutdown formally ends and air traffic controller staffing begins to improve. The Federal Aviation Administration's emergency order capping flights at 40 high impact airports is now frozen at a 6 percent reduction instead of stepping up to 8 percent today and 10 percent on Friday, but the system is working through a large backlog of canceled flights and displaced crews.

By early this morning, FlightAware data showed nearly 1,000 cancellations within, into, or out of the United States, alongside thousands of delays worldwide. That is on top of more than 10,000 cancellations since the FAA mandate took effect last week, a number federal officials acknowledge will take days to unwind. Put simply, flight delays and airport impacts remain elevated even as the worst case scenario for further cuts has been averted.

At the same time, storms in the West, including an incoming atmospheric river pattern, keep pressure on Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and other coastal hubs that are already operating under the reduced schedule. For travelers flying today and through the weekend, the story is a combination of structural capacity limits and localized weather risk layered on top of each other.

FAA flight cuts and shutdown recovery

The current disruption sits on top of an unprecedented intervention by the FAA. On November 7, the agency activated an Emergency Order Establishing Operating Limitations on the Use of Navigable Airspace, directing airlines to cut their scheduled domestic operations between 600 a.m. and 1000 p.m. local time at 40 named high impact airports. The original plan called for a phased ramp from 4 percent reductions starting November 7, to 6 percent on November 11, 8 percent on November 13, and 10 percent on November 14.

Those reductions were designed to respond to a sharp rise in air traffic controller callouts during the shutdown, and to safety data that showed increasing stress in the National Airspace System at major hubs. The order gave the FAA authority to require evenly distributed cuts throughout the day, limit general aviation at some airports when staffing triggers were hit, and even restrict commercial space launches during peak hours to preserve airspace for airline traffic.

Late Wednesday, however, the Department of Transportation issued a new directive freezing the cap at 6 percent instead of continuing the climb to 8 and 10 percent. Officials cited a rapid decline in controller callouts as workers returned to duty once a funding bill cleared Congress and the shutdown's end came into view. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the cap will stay at 6 percent while safety teams monitor whether the system can safely return to normal operations, without giving a firm timeline.

For travelers, that freeze is good news, because it prevents another ratchet of schedule cuts just as airlines are already struggling to cover existing flights. It does not, however, instantly restore capacity or eliminate disruptions. Carriers still have to put aircraft, crews, and passengers back where they are supposed to be, and that work is measured in days, not hours.

Latest developments

This morning's numbers underscore how bumpy the recovery remains. ABC News and other outlets, citing FlightAware, reported at least 989 U.S. cancellations by about 500 a.m. Eastern, even before the first major departure banks finished pushing back from gates. Live statistics from FlightAware's cancellation tracker show roughly 1,200 global cancellations today, including just under 1,000 affecting U.S. airports, along with more than 700 U.S. delays.

Yesterday, the pattern of disruption was familiar. Departures from Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Denver International Airport (DEN), and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) led U.S. cancellations as airlines operated under the 6 percent cap and worked around staffing pockets. Transportation officials warned that residual delays from those cancellations would ripple into today's schedules regardless of the shutdown's formal end.

The FAA's list of 40 high impact airports spans more than two dozen states and includes big coastal and interior hubs such as John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Chicago O'Hare, and the Atlanta and New York area airports. All of them must hold to the 6 percent cut until the order is lifted, with airlines forbidden to compensate by overscheduling additional flights in the remaining slots.

Overlaying that structural cap, weather is still a meaningful wild card. Forecast guidance calls for an intense storm system in the West, with an atmospheric river expected to bring heavy rain and gusty winds into parts of California. Meteorologists and travel outlets are already warning of potential ground delay programs at airports like Los Angeles and San Francisco as controllers meter arrivals and departures through the worst of the conditions.

Industry groups are cautiously optimistic that the worst is behind the system. Airlines for America has told reporters it expects aviation to take up to a week to fully normalize, even though the government is reopening and controller staffing is stabilizing. Officials also emphasize that they do not expect the Thanksgiving peak to be materially cut, pointing out that airlines have not started canceling holiday week flights in advance.

Analysis

For air travelers, this remains a capacity management problem first, and a weather problem second. The FAA's emergency order removes about one flight in sixteen at the 40 named airports, primarily during the busiest daytime hours. That means fewer available seats for last minute rebooking, tighter recovery when an early wave of flights is delayed, and less slack in the system when a storm or staffing issue flares at one of the big hubs.

The good news is that the planned escalation to an 8 and then 10 percent cut is off the table for now. Holding at 6 percent should limit further damage, especially as controller attendance improves. The bad news is that the system has already absorbed more than 10,000 cancellations, with aircraft and crews scattered away from their usual rotations. That imbalance is why even a full day without major weather can still produce long lines at check in, busy rebooking counters, and a high number of rolling delays.

From a practical standpoint, travelers should still treat the next several days as an elevated risk period, especially if connecting through the 40 high impact airports. It is sensible to push itineraries toward earlier departures out of hubs like Chicago O'Hare, Denver International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Los Angeles, and John F. Kennedy. Morning flights tend to have more recovery options, and they are less exposed to late day traffic flow initiatives and crew time out issues.

Connection planning also matters. Under normal conditions, a 60 minute connection at a familiar hub might be acceptable. Under a system wide cap with lingering disruption, aiming for at least 90 minutes at constrained airports is a safer baseline, and pushing to two hours is reasonable if you are protecting an onward international segment. It is better to endure an extra half hour at the gate than to spend a day trying to reaccommodate a missed long haul flight.

Airline tools are doing more of the heavy lifting this week. United, Delta, American, and other carriers have built dedicated pages explaining their FAA mandated schedule reductions and are auto rebooking many passengers as cuts cascade into schedules. Checking these pages and your airline app at least the night before, and again the morning of travel, gives you a better chance of grabbing alternate seats or reroutes before they are gone.

International travelers should remember that many long haul flights are technically exempt from the domestic cap, but that is only half the story. The vulnerable links are the feeder flights into those long haul departures, especially in the afternoon and evening at hubs such as JFK, Atlanta, and Chicago O'Hare. If you can, consider moving your domestic leg earlier or even repositioning to your gateway city the night before to reduce the risk of missing the overseas segment.

Background, the emergency order that underpins today's conditions was a direct reaction to safety concerns. The FAA cited increased fatigue, more reports of planes getting too close in the air, and a rise in runway incursions as controllers worked unpaid and understaffed during the shutdown. Regulators concluded that the only way to preserve safety margins was to temporarily cut traffic at the most stressed airports, then fine carriers that exceeded those limits. Now that the shutdown has ended and staffing is improving, the question is not whether cuts can stop immediately, but how quickly the agency can safely unwind the 6 percent cap without eroding those margins again.

Final thoughts

Today's picture is not the system wide meltdown that a 10 percent cut and deepening shutdown might have produced, but it is still a challenging environment for anyone flying through the United States. Flight delays and airport impacts remain elevated because the FAA's emergency cap, the recent shutdown, and stormy weather in key regions are all interacting at once.

If you are traveling in the next few days, treat this as a period that demands more preparation and less optimism. Choose earlier departures at the major hubs, build generous connection buffers, and stay glued to your airline app and the FAA status pages. Those straightforward moves will not eliminate risk, but they will tilt the odds in your favor while the system works through the backlog and moves back toward normal operations ahead of the Thanksgiving rush.

Sources

• FAA Daily Air Traffic Report
• Emergency Order Establishing Operating Limitations on the Use of Navigable Airspace (PDF)
• Flight reductions and delays could last another week, officials say
• FAA says flight cuts will stay at 6% because more air traffic controllers are coming to work
• Live Airline Flight Cancellations Info & Statistics
• Flight reductions and delays could last another week, officials say (syndicated local version)
• Incoming atmospheric river storm will cause more flight delays in the West