Salt Lake City among 40 airports to receive 10% service cut amid government shutdown

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s largest airport is among the 40 across the country that will have a reduction in service beginning on Friday, as the federal shutdown continues in its second month.

Salt Lake City International Airport is among the 40 major airports forecasting a 10% reduction in flights, according to NBC News and the Associated Press. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the cuts on Wednesday as the latest impact from the shutdown, which has already led to 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay.

Federal Aviation Administration officials stated that the measure seeks to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers. Air carriers were informed in a call with the federal government that 4% of flights will be cut on Friday, and that percentage will rise over the ensuing days before reaching 10% next week, Reuters reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long the cuts would last or what flights would be trimmed. Delta Air Lines, which operates over two-thirds of the passenger flights at Salt Lake City International Airport, said in a statement that it will “work to minimize customer impact while keeping safety our top priority.”

“We are providing additional flexibility to all of our customers during the impacted travel period to change, cancel or refund their flights, including our basic economy fares, without penalty,” Delta added. “We will work to give customers as much notice as possible about any changes to their flights and apologize for any inconvenience these changes may cause.”

Other airlines announced similar plans to notify customers if their flights are affected.

Salt Lake City International averaged more than 2.3 million total passengers every month over the first nine months of this year, while November and December are generally considered two of the busier travel months because of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Airport officials were apparently caught off guard by the FAA’s decision. Nancy Volmer, told KSL on Wednesday that the airport wasn’t aware of any flight scalebacks at the airport when news about a 10% reduction at 40 airports nationwide first dropped, but she expected that it could create some service impacts for people flying to airports on the list.

Major cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York are included on the list, along with airports with heavy traffic, like Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International, Dallas/Fort Worth International and Denver International.

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This story will be updated.

Contributing: Associated Press