Flight cancellations continue at Sea-Tac, even as government reopens

The federal government shutdown is over, but Seattle-Tacoma International Airport staff do not yet know when the flight schedule will get back to normal.

More than 50 flights were canceled out of SeaTac on Thursday, spokesperson Katherine Fountain said.

It was the seventh day since the Federal Aviation Administration ordered major airports like SeaTac to reduce flights by 10% by Nov. 14. The airport has now seen over 300 flights canceled, with 42 on Wednesday, 54 on Tuesday, 49 on Monday, 45 on Sunday, 33 on Saturday and 29 on Friday.

SeaTac facilitates anywhere from 1,100 to 1,300 flights a day, airport spokesperson Kassie McKnight-Xi said.

McKnight-Xi said she was unsure if SeaTac would still experience cancellations during the Thanksgiving week, when a swell of travelers will fly across the country.

The FAA did say Wednesday that it planned to freeze its cuts at 6% so it can assess whether the system can gradually return to normal.”

Alaska Airlines, in a statement Thursday morning, said it has been working to “ramp up” operations quickly.

“We are in close contact with the Federal Aviation Administration and are prepared to resume our full schedule as soon as the FAA lifts the order and it is safe to do so, the airline said in the statement.

In the meantime, travelers should expect cancellations to continue and should check their flight’s status with their airline carrier before leaving the house, McKnight-Xi said.

Furloughed federal employees like air traffic controllers, Customs and Border Patrol and Transportation Security Administration employees will return to work. They will receive back pay after about a week, but air traffic controllers will receive 70% of their missing paychecks by Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.

Industry experts say airlines might need extra time to regain their footing but could recover by Thanksgiving if the FAA’s order to reduce flights is lifted and enough air traffic controllers return to work.

Despite the cancellations, operations at SeaTac have been going smoothly, McKnight-Xi said.

Wait times in security have stayed within the airport’s regular average of 15 minutes or less, she said. Because SeaTac is an origin-and-destination airport where travelers are usually only beginning or ending their journeys, people have not been stranded in the airport midway either.