Political analyst Chuck Todd says nationwide flight cuts could be ‘best way’ to end shutdown

Political analyst Chuck Todd weighs in on whether the FAA's order to cut flights nationwide could lead to the end of the government shutdown.

BY JEFF VINTON

Nov 7, 2025, 10:15 AM Updated: 12:30 pm

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PHOENIX — Travelers at 40 airports around the nation, including Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, are beginning to feel the effects of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) order to cut flights, which took effect Friday morning.

The FAA said it hopes to scale back flights by as much as 10% in order to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers, who are working without pay due to the ongoing government shutdown.

The effect of the order is already being felt at Arizona’s largest airport. According to flight tracking website FlightAware, as of 10 a.m., Sky Harbor has seen 69 flight delays and 53 cancellations.

However, the impact is expected to increase over the weekend, as FlightAware lists more than 600 delays and more than 1,000 cancellations already scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Sky Harbor.

In addition to Phoenix, the FAA’s order affected some of the country’s busiest airports, including those in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York and Los Angeles, and has led to more than 15,000 delays and more than 1,200 cancellations, according to FlightAware.

Airlines began sending cancellation notices to impacted customers on Thursday. Three of the nation’s biggest airlines — United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines — said they will offer refunds, even for tickets that are not normally refundable.

“We are operating today over 6,000 flights,” David Seymour, chief operating officer for American Airlines, told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Now we’ve had to cancel as part of this directive 220 flights today and that will be the same number through the weekend, until we start ramping up. We have been working tirelessly throughout, around the clock, to ensure that we’re minimizing the disruption to our customers.”

The FAA said flight reductions would begin at 4% and increase to 10% by next Friday. They will be in effect between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and impact all commercial airlines.

Could FAA cutting flights lead to end of government shutdown?

This order came as President Donald Trump’s administration increased pressure on Democrats in Congress to end the government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1.

Political analyst Chuck Todd said Friday that issues with travel could push politicians in Washington D.C. to get back to the negotiating table.

“This is what finally got everybody to break the last shutdown was air traffic controllers,” Todd told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News. “And so, this is probably the best way to force a settlement.”

The most recent government shutdown, which took place during Trump’s first term from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019, came to an end several hours after the FAA began scaling back on flights at several major East Coast airports.

Todd believes the widespread impact of the FAA’s current order could be even more impactful than the order in 2019.

“I think if you’ve got a lot of people stranded at major airports and the fact that they’re impacting major airports, part of that was to try to bring more attention, right? If you’re at major airports, you’re going to be in major media markets and you’re going to get a little more attention for it than if you were shutting things down at all the secondary airports,” he said.

However, Todd still held doubts about whether or not the longest shutdown in American history would end soon.

“So, I’d like to be optimistic here and say that this weekend will motivate them,” Todd added. “I’ve been wrong about this for this entire shutdown and Democrats are terrible at figuring out how to declare victory. They’ve won this argument. They made their point. Why have other Americans suffer after you’ve already made your point?”

How to check on the status of your flight out of Sky Harbor

Sky Harbor was the 15th busiest airport in the U.S. last year, according to Bureau of Transportation statistics, and had already seen ground delays earlier this week due to staffing shortages.

Officials from Sky Harbor encourage all passengers to check the status of their flights before leaving for the airport and to make sure to leave extra time to get through security.

The airport’s website has pages that show delays and cancellations, along with updated security wait times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.