This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
The federal government’s plan to force the cancellation of hundreds of flights across the nation had travelers worried at Denver International Airport on Thursday.
“I have a multi-city trip … and so I’m concerned about the latter part of my trip,” said Laura Bowling, who was headed to Salt Lake City and then Seattle. “I have no idea at this point how that's going to affect my scheduled flights.”
With the federal shutdown now in record-breaking territory, the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered a 10 percent reduction in daily flights in the coming days. Trump administration officials say it’s a safety precaution due to air-traffic control staffing issues. It’s expected to impact 40 airports, including Denver — the nation’s third busiest.
Thirty-one flights out of Denver have already been canceled for Friday, according to data from FlightAware — a small fraction of the 1,600 flights that depart the airport on an average day.
But for now, flights and security lines were still moving smoothly at DIA.
“It was very simple, very easy, no lines.” said Bethany Goodman, who traveled to Denver from Florida on Thursday. “We feel really safe. I feel bad for the people that are working without getting paid.”
An airport spokesperson declined to comment Thursday on the potential impacts, referring reporters to federal officials.
The cancellations in Denver include four flights to Colorado Springs, two to Grand Junction and two to Durango on Friday.
Flights to out-of-state destinations like Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Portland and Lincoln, Neb. were canceled too.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the cancellations were a result of the federal change, but the number of cancellations is set to increase sharply in Denver and across the U.S., according to FlightAware.
The full impacts for DIA and other Colorado airports aren’t clear yet, but it’s expected that shorter regional flights will be most heavily affected.
For example, United has said that it will not cut “hub-to-hub” flights. Denver is one of eight United hubs in the U.S. and its territories. But smaller airports around the state could be more susceptible to cancellations.
Representatives for multiple smaller airports did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, DIA officials are looking for temporary solutions.
The airport has taken the unusual step of asking permission to pay the salaries of controllers and other federal workers, with the federal government reimbursing it later. But it hasn’t received permission to do so, and it’s unclear when an answer might come.
The announcement of the flight cancellations came as a surprise for security screeners and other local workers with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), who have been working without pay for all 37 days of the shutdown.
“It's like we're in the Wild West. We don't know who to trust, who has the right answers.” said Angela Grana, a representative for AFGE TSA Local 1127, the local TSA union.
“We found out at the same time you did,” Grana said. “They're not going to let us know anything about that. That's an administrative call.”
TSA employees are watching their budgets buckle after weeks without pay, Grana said. The airport is even hosting a food drive for impacted employees.
“A TSA officer has a very stressful job, and while they're doing their job, all they can think about is how am I going to pay for things? Who's going to take care of my kids when I can't pay for childcare? How am I going to get to work if I can't get gas in my car?” Grana said.
Still, Grana thinks the FAA is making the right decision to cancel flights.
“I think it's a smart move because you need those people in the towers,” She said. “The air traffic controllers are in charge of making sure the skies (and) traffic is flowing and nobody's running into each other.”
Travel impacts at other airports are already piling up, with hours-long security delays reported in Houston over the weekend. Denver has largely avoided those issues, but the threat of mandated flight cancellations — and the mounting stress on TSA and tower employees — could change that. And, of course, the Thanksgiving holiday is approaching in three weeks.
Some travelers on Thursday were worried about air safety. “I’m not sure I feel comfortable thinking there are subs, or not enough people there,” said Juli O’Dea, who had been waiting several hours on a delayed Southwest flight.
TSA officials on Monday said the longer the shutdown goes on, the more severe the impact will be.
“While the vast majority of TSA’s nationwide operations remain minimally impacted by the government shutdown, occasional delays at some security checkpoints are to be expected. The longer the shutdown goes on, the more severe the impact on our TSA workforce,” the agency said in a statement.
“This is not our shutdown,” Crow says.
The shutdown began because Congress failed to pass a new budget or temporary funding bill in time. Republicans in Congress want to pass a so-called “clean resolution” to keep the government funded for now at current levels, while Democrats are pushing to include extension of tax credits that make health insurance cheaper. Without those credits, costs for many Coloradans are set to double.
Rep. Jason Crow said airport disruptions won’t move him and the Democrats on the shutdown.
“I'm not going to bargain with people's health insurance and their ability to actually survive and provide health care for their children. What is happening here is we have a president that is acting way outside of the normal bounds of the law, of the constitution, of our morality as a nation, and they have made that decision and they are acting that way and that is non-negotiable for me,” said Crow, who shares representation of the airport with Rep. Diana DeGette.
“This is not our shutdown. They have made the decision to act in the way they've acted. They made the decision to shut Congress down,” Crow added. “They made the decision to not come to us to work towards a bipartisan solution, and they have to now make the decision to open the doors back up, start negotiation and work with us in good faith.”
Rep. Diana DeGette said she trusts the FAA’s decision to reduce the flights. She called on Republicans to work with Democrats to end the shutdown.
“The main concern has to be the safety of the flying public, and I know our federal employees at the TSA and also the air traffic controllers have that in mind as well,” she said in an interview. “So we're just going to have to get through this and hope that President Trump and the Republicans will come to their senses and actually sit down and negotiate an end to this.”
Republican Rep. Gabe Evans called out Democratic representatives over social media multiple times throughout the shutdown.
“They’ve once again proven they’ll put political stunts over the American people. This is unacceptable,” Evans wrote on X.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston blamed Trump. The shutdown had “forced federal employees to work without pay and left 100,000 Denverites without access to food,” he said in a statement. “Now his dysfunction is threatening to cancel flights for millions of Americans and kneecap our state’s largest economic engine.”
Staffing shortages are already leading to delays.
United Airlines is the largest airline that flies out of DIA, which is one of its hubs. The airline has said that international flights and those between its hubs won’t be affected.
“United's long-haul international flying and our hub-to-hub flying will not be impacted by this schedule reduction direction from the FAA,” it said in a statement. “Instead, we will focus our schedule reductions on regional flying and domestic mainline flights that do not travel between our hubs.
On Oct. 30, United CEO Scott Kirby stood with Vice President J.D. Vance at a press conference, urging Democrats to pass the continuing resolution. He said that United is experiencing more delays due to air traffic control absences.
Nationwide, Kirby said that 44 percent of flight delays on Sunday and 24 percent on Monday were caused by air traffic controller absences, compared to 5 percent on average before the shutdown, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, travelers in Denver are waiting to see what it means for their plans.
“Time will tell,” said Jake Geary, who had just arrived in Denver for a long weekend. “I just sincerely hope that there's enough on reserve after Friday.”
