Flights to and from Honolulu could be reduced as the Federal Aviation Administration plans to reduce air traffic by 10%.
According to Associated Press reporting, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford announced Wednesday that the FAA will cut back on flights across 40 “high-volume” markets to pre-empt potential safety concerns as the federal government shutdown has left air traffic controllers without pay for more than a month.
The Associated Press reported that the month and increasingly short staff has put pressure on air traffic controllers, many of whom have called out of work, causing further staffing shortages. This has led to a range of major flight delays across several mainland airports, where the FAA warned flights could be delayed by up to seven hours from Wednesday into Thursday.
Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da Silva told Aloha State Daily last week that it had seen “no impacts to [their] operations” related to the ongoing shutdown.
The cuts will begin on Friday. The specific airports selected for the cuts have not yet been announced, and Bedford said a list of impacted airports will be released Thursday.
According to the Airports Council International, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport had the 22nd-most aircraft movements in the U.S. last year, with 334,695 aircraft flying in or out of the airport in 2024. It ranked 32nd in total commercial passengers — nearly 22 million last year — and 14th in cargo, with more than 600,000 metric tons of cargo moving through the airport in 2024.
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