The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered airlines to cut flight schedules by up to 10% at 40 major US airports starting Friday due to the ongoing government shutdown and air traffic controller shortages. The move aims to maintain safety amid staffing gaps, with gradual reductions ramping up over the next week. While passenger airlines that carry domestic freight are expected to experience shipping delays, the impact on dedicated cargo carriers like FedEx, UPS, and DHL will be minimal since the restrictions mainly affect daytime passenger flights and exempt international routes, according to Eric Kulisch of Freight Waves. Major air cargo hubs — including Memphis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Anchorage — are coordinating with the FAA to minimize disruption. Logistics firms warn that reduced passenger capacity could temporarily tighten the domestic air freight market, causing longer transit times for time-sensitive goods such as medical supplies and auto parts. They write:
Businesses using passenger aircraft for domestic freight transportation could experience some shipping delays from the Federal Aviation Administration’s order for airlines to reduce their schedules at the nation’s busiest airports starting Friday because of the government shutdown, but the impact on all-cargo carriers is expected to be minimal, according to air logistics professionals.
Freighter operators won’t be heavily exposed to flight reductions because the mandate applies to flights from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., outside the time when a lot of express cargo operations are scheduled, and exempts international flights — which are responsible for the majority of cargo movement in the United States — air cargo officials said.
The FAA order directs airlines in high-volume markets to temporarily reduce traffic by 10% across 40 domestic airports to alleviate strain on the system and maintain flying safety as air traffic controllers take sick leave or complain of being overworked during the shutdown. […]
All-cargo airlines also regularly fly to large metropolitan airports such as those in Chicago, New York and Miami. […]
“Our customers in these industries typically can’t afford downtime or freight delays given how their businesses operate. After the FAA announcement, our teams were immediately on the phone with customers to implement contingency plans — analyzing inventory and shifting freight to charters and expedited ground,” said Short. “We’re not just looking at the impacted freight but also determining how existing inventory can be” tracked and rerouted from one customer facility to another to ensure no production downtime.
The reduction in U.S. aviation capacity could compound delays at UPS, which is still recovering from a deadly crash of a widebody freighter on departure from its global hub in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday. UPS resumed operations Wednesday night after a one-day pause, but has relaxed standards for on-time delivery of express products through Friday. Louisville airport is operating with two of its three runways. The third runway is closed while authorities continue their accident investigation.
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