Category World News

United States airlines have scaled back flights as the US government shutdown, now the longest in the country’s history, continues into the weekend.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Friday that airlines might have to reduce flights by up to 20 percent if the shutdown continues.

This is much higher than a directive on Wednesday when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called on all airlines to reduce their schedules by 4 percent to address safety concerns amid limited staffing during the shutdown. The FAA said at the time the cuts will increase to 10 percent by next Friday if the shutdown has not ended by then.

“We’re going to make decisions based on what we see in the airspace,” Duffy told reporters on Friday.

The reductions are straining travel through 40 of the country’s busiest airports, including Atlanta, Washington, Houston and Denver.

The cuts began on flights scheduled for 6am US Eastern Time (11:00 GMT) on Friday and included 700 cuts across the four largest US airlines – Delta, American, Southwest and United.

However, the FAA has provided limited guidance on how the directive applies to private and charter flights.

The FAA’s guidance states that “general aviation operations may also be reduced by up to 10 percent at High Impact Airports, including TEB [Teterboro airport in New Jersey], HOU [Houston’s Hobby airport], and DAL [Dallas Love Field]”.

But beyond that, it remains unclear which “general aviation” flights – a category that includes private jet travel – will be reduced or how it will be enforced.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) pointed Al Jazeera to a press release that said there are reductions in parachute flight operations and aerial photography flights. But it did not provide explicit guidance on business jet travel.

The DOT did not answer follow-up questions on private business travel, which accounts for one in six flights in US airspace. Meanwhile, private jet flights only contribute 2 percent in tax to a trust fund that pays for the operation and maintenance of US airspace.

Advocacy groups are calling on private jet owners to halt their flights while the system remains strained.

“Any private jet owner flying just for fun this week needs to rethink that choice. You’re taking capacity away from everyday people who need to get where they’re going. Someone might not make it to their grandmother’s bedside in time. This is not how this should work,” Erica Payne, president of Patriotic Millionaires, an advocacy group of high-net-worth individuals looking to create a more equitable economy, told Al Jazeera.

“Shift the cost [of flight cuts] to private jet owners who can ‘rough it’ in first class. It shows where the priorities really are. The transportation security could issue guidance that private jets should be grounded,” Payne added.

Charter operators are not currently facing the same restrictions as major carriers like United Airlines, Delta and American, who have had to reduce their domestic operations as long as the directive is in place.

Al Jazeera reached out to public charter carriers JSX and Aero for comment about how they are navigating the shutdown.

“Our operations are subject to and complying with the order, and customers on affected flights will be notified and accommodated, as necessary,” a spokesperson for JSX told Al Jazeera in a statement.

Aero did not reply to Al Jazeera’s request.

Delays, cancellations

Passengers on commercial flights are already feeling the pinch with ground delays in some cases well over an hour amid staffing shortages at the nation’s major airports.

FlightAware, a website which tracks cancellations and delays, showed 856 cancellations and more than 2,800 delays with flights to, from and within the US on commercial airlines on Friday.

“Air traffic controllers and TSA [Transportation Security Administration] officers are receiving yet another empty paycheck. More than 3.5 million passengers have experienced delays or cancellations because of air traffic control staffing concerns since the shutdown began,” Airlines 4 America, an airline industry trade group, said in a statement.

Earlier this week, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said 20 percent to 40 percent of controllers were not showing up for work on any given day. Thus far, as many as 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been forced to work without pay.

On Wall Street, airline stocks have remained resilient despite ongoing strains as markets closed on Friday.

Delta Airlines shares rose 1.8 percent, United Airlines gained 1.7 percent, and Southwest Airlines climbed 2.9 percent. American Airlines was up 1.8 percent from the market open. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines surged 2.8 percent to 4.3, while New York City-based JetBlue rose 4 percent.

While the White House and President Donald Trump’s administration continue to blame Democrats – including in its automated responses to emails – the president has not limited his own travel. On Friday afternoon, he is slated to travel to Palm Beach, Florida. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

France has advised French nationals to temporarily leave Mali “as soon as possible” as an armed group blockade upends daily life in the capital Bamako and other regions of the West African country.

The al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has since September been targeting fuel tankers, particularly those coming from Senegal and the Ivory Coast, through which the majority of Mali’s imported goods transit.

Since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021 that led to the end of France’s military presence in the country, Mali has been ruled by a military government that is struggling to counter various armed groups, including the JNIM.

“For several weeks, the security situation has been deteriorating in Mali, including in Bamako,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a travel advisory released on Friday.

“French nationals are advised to plan a temporary departure from Mali as soon as possible on the commercial flights still available,” it said, adding that “travel by land remains inadvisable, as national roads are currently the target of attacks by terrorist groups”.

On Thursday, ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said that France was following the deteriorating security situation in Mali “with great attention and genuine concern”, but that France’s diplomatic presence “remains unchanged” with the embassy open.

Last week, the United States and Britain announced the evacuation of their “nonessential” personnel and their families because of the deteriorating situation.

France’s announcement came as the Geneva-based shipping group MSC said it was halting its operations in Mali, citing the fuel blockade and deteriorating security.

‘Admission of failure’

Fighters from JNIM have for weeks imposed the fuel blockade, which has paralysed the landlocked Sahelian country’s economy.

It has forced the government to close schools, prevented harvesting in several regions and limited access to electricity.

While JNIM has long laid siege to towns in other parts of the country, this is the first time it has used the tactic on the capital city.

Earlier this week, President Assimi Goita called on citizens to do their part, particularly by reducing unnecessary travel, while promising to “do everything possible to deliver fuel”.

For Alioune Tine, formerly the United Nations’ independent expert on the human rights situation in Mali, the leader’s statement was a “terrible admission of failure”.

The ruling military government had promised to stem the growing insecurity that has plagued the country for more than a decade.

While it broke ties with former Western military allies, including France, it has instead partnered with Russian paramilitaries to fight armed groups.

But “the Malian state no longer controls anything” within its territory, Bakary Sambe from the Dakar-based Timbuktu Institute think tank told the AFP news agency.

Instead, he said, it “is concentrating its forces around Bamako to secure the regime”.

And the population’s initial support for the military rulers “is beginning to erode in the face of the military regime’s inability to keep its security promise”, he added.

JNIM’s main objective is to capture and control territory and to expel Western influences in its region of control. Some experts suggest that JNIM may be seeking to control major capitals and, ultimately, to govern the country as a whole.

However, observers say Bamako falling seems unlikely at this stage, as JNIM lacks military and governance capacity.

“I do not believe JNIM possesses the capability or intent to take Bamako at this time, though the threat it now poses to the city is unprecedented”, Charlie Werb, an analyst with Aldebaran Threat Consultants, said.

JNIM is one of several armed groups operating in the Sahel, a vast strip of semi-arid desert stretching from North to West Africa, where fighting is spreading rapidly, with large-scale attacks.

The group has killed thousands of people since 2017. Human rights groups accuse it of attacking civilians, especially people perceived to be assisting government forces.