Charlotte Airport braces for flight cuts amid government shutdown

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — As the government shutdown drags on, America’s major airports, including Charlotte Douglas International, are bracing for cuts to air travel. Federal officials are looking to cut passenger flights to lighten the load on air traffic controllers who have gone without pay for a month.

“I’m not naive to understand that they’re trying to figure out how they meet their daily obligations. And so because of that, we have seen staffing pressures throughout our airspace, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

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CLT officials said there was no impact to operations on Thursday. However, American Airlines, the airport’s largest carrier, acknowledged that will change come Friday morning when they begin to comply with the FAA’s plan to reduce domestic flights nationwide by 4%. That figure will climb to 10% next week.

It’s left fliers like James Rowson, who was flying to Memphis, anxious.

“This is a little unnerving, but hopefully everybody will come to their senses and business will go on as usual or better than usual,” said Rowson.

In a statement, American said they expect most of their customers’ travel to be unaffected, and that there would be no changes to long-haul, international travel.

The airline added that passengers will be contacted if their flight is canceled or rescheduled.

Cargo airlines will not be impacted.

Melanie Anderson, who was on her way to Las Vegas with a group of girlfriends, was keeping an eye on her return flight, but hoped to enjoy Sin City for a little longer if plans change.

“Hopefully they’ll give us a stipend if we have to stay,” said Melanie.