As Thanksgiving Travel Looms, Airport Chaos Threat Could Force Washington To End Shutdown

What’s become very clear, and CNBC’s Brian Sullivan may have nailed it, is that the record-long government shutdown will end once FAA-mandated flight reductions start forcing airport closures. 

Now, with the final countdown underway, Washington’s political deadlock is set to trigger nationwide airport chaos in the very near term. This will only compel both political parties to compromise and reach a deal to reopen the federal government, or risk facing angry voters. The timing suggests a resolution may emerge as the Thanksgiving travel season begins in the coming weeks.

“Double-stacking the planes now. We’re taking off but later flights going to be hurting worse. Once airports close this thing ends. We don’t all fly private like many in Congress,” Sullivan wrote on X early Sunday morning. 

Double stacking the planes now. We’re taking off but later flights going to be hurting worse.

Once airports close this thing ends.

We don’t all fly private like many in Congress. pic.twitter.com/tI6asF8lCB

— Brian Sullivan (@SullyCNBC) November 9, 2025

On Friday, the FAA told major airlines to reduce daily flights by 4% at 40 major airports, rising to 6% Tuesday and 10% by mid-month. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that flight reductions could exceed 20% if the government shutdown were not resolved in the weeks ahead. 

By Saturday, staffing issues at controller towers at 42 major airports nationwide disrupted flights in 12 cities, including Atlanta, Newark, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. Yesterday’s flight cancellations topped 1,550, with 6,700 delays, worsening from Friday’s 1,025 cancellations. Air traffic controllers are increasingly calling out for work because of zero-dollar paychecks amid the government shutdown, now in its 40th day. 

Duffy warned earlier, “It’s only going to get worse… Two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle.”

.@SecDuffy on the Democrat Shutdown: “It’s only going to get worse… Two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle.” pic.twitter.com/P5zDPdl2Hk

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 9, 2025

Seasonal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint data shows that the number of travelers screened at airport security checkpoints will begin to surge in the week leading up to Thanksgiving, further straining airports during one of the busiest travel periods of the year, unless a deal can be struck in Washington.

Back to Sullivan’s point, “Once airports close this thing ends. We don’t all fly private like many in Congress.”