The government shutdown of 2025 froze activity in the capital, as the federal government ran out of funds, but it has reached all the way to the nation’s air traffic operations. Air traffic controllers were required to work without pay, leading to a shortage of around 3903 certified controllers, as many had to take other jobs or simply bring forward their retirement after missing two pay dates. Retirements since the shutdown spiked from 4 per day to 20 per day. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), faced with low staffing, forced airlines to reduce flights at 40 airports by 4%, and announced that it would get to 10% if the shutdown progressed. In just a couple of weeks, more than five million travelers were affected (CNBC).

According to basic economics, When you stop supplying labor, you stop building capacity, and then you have to ration. Scarcity results in selective cancellations; airlines don't cancel flights randomly. Slots are usually canceled for:
High-frequency routes, where customers may be rescheduled
Low-revenue or low-traffic flights may carry poorer or smaller communities.
Isolated one-day routes, as they compromise crews and equipment

However, large business centers such as New York, Chicago, and Atlanta are safeguarded as they are the ones generating the most revenue, keeping airline networks alive. This leads to smaller and low-income communities being cut off either entirely or through their only airline connection to the large city.

What this means is that the price of the shutdown is not distributed proportionally. Missing one flight per day may translate to lost productivity, missed hospital appointments, or waiting days to reschedule flights, whereas air travelers in large cities are merely inconvenienced by longer lines or minor delays and never entirely disconnected (USA TODAY).

However, while commercial travelers face delays and cuts, private jet aviation had one of its strongest months in two decades. October registered 245,000 departures of private jets, which is an increase of over 5% compared to last year, and Flexjet recorded an increase of 20% in flight hours and 42% in early November. The reason is that private airplanes just avoided the issue by flying through secondary airports like Westchester and Van Nuys, which avoided most FAA reductions (The New York Times).

Shutdowns are described as political struggles, but economically, the effects are clear: scarcity leads to rationing, rationing requires identifying priorities, and priorities are determined by power. When the government stops funding the people keeping the skies safe, it’s those least connected and least privileged who will be the first to lose access, while those able to pay for private jets won’t be inconvenienced.



Work Cited List
Chung, Christine. “Who Didn’t Suffer During the Shutdown? People Flying Private.” The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/travel/shutdown-private-air-travel.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025.
Josephs, Leslie. “The Government Shutdown Is Over. The Air Traffic Controller Shortage Is Not.” CNBC, 16 Nov. 2025, www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/11/15/government-shutdown-air-traffic-controllers.html.
Rivera, Josh. “Airlines Aren’t Canceling Flights at Random, It ‘Needs to Be Done.’” USA TODAY, 7 Nov. 2025, www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2025/11/06/how-airlines-decide-flight-cuts-during-shutdown/87128598007/#.