FAA’s flight reductions add some pressure to domestic air cargo amid ongoing government shutdown

While it appears the federal government shutdown may be coming to a resolution, that cannot come soon enough for air cargo industry stakeholders.

With the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently implementing an up to 10% decrease in domestic flight operations across 40 of the highest-traffic U.S. airports,  between 6 A.M. and 10 A.M., due to the shutdown, coupled with air traffic controllers not being paid, workers calling in sick, and dealing with extreme fatigue, among other factors, the Federal website, Govfacts.org, called it “an attempt to align the scheduled flight capacity with the actual, available air traffic control staffing. Instead of letting the system fail with random, unpredictable ground stops, the 10% cut is a managed, organized reduction to keep the system stable.”

In comments provided to LM, Mike Short, president of Global Forwarding at C.H. Robinson, observed that while the FAA’s 10% reduction in intra-U.S. flights will create some ripple effects in transportation, the impact on air freight overall is expected to be limited.    

The reason for that, he explained, is that international operations represent a much larger share of air cargo movement, and, for now, international flights remain fully exempt. Right now, airlines have yet to finalize their lists of canceled or reduced domestic flights, he noted.

“Because most U.S. domestic air freight moves in the bellies of passenger aircraft versus cargo planes, reductions in commercial routes will tighten air capacity in those markets,” said Short. “So, the domestic air market could see temporary constraints and longer transit times. Truckload and expedited ground networks can absorb some displaced volume, but not without challenges given that short-term surges drive spot rate volatility and equipment repositioning.”

And he added that domestic air is a critical transportation mode for many of C.H. Robinson’s customers moving high-value, time-critical shipments, including automotive production line components, semiconductors, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, aerospace and defense materials, and energy equipment.

What’s more he said that the company’s 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,” he said. “We’re not just looking at the impacted freight but also determining how existing inventory can be used. For example, a customer might have an abundance of a vital component at one facility that their Southern facility will be out of tomorrow. We’re using our item-level technology to track inventory down and help keep production lines running.”

In a LinkedIn post, Dr. Jason Miller, Eli Broad Endowed Professor of Supply Chain Management, at Michigan State University, noted that shippers of high value density goods will be closely watching the impact that limits on flights have on airfreight capacity over the coming days.

“Expedite transportation providers will want to be prepared for some potential extra business, depending on the duration and magnitude of flight curtailments,” wrote Miller.