DAYTON — Travelers hope there will be some relief at airports now that the government has reopened.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, that isn’t the case, as some flight disruptions are still happening.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Baby, teenage girl almost hit by bullets inside their Dayton homes; Police looking for shooters
- Police announce 4 additional arrests stemming from shooting in UD student neighborhood
- Judge rules mom, boyfriend competent to stand trial in death of 7-year-old boy
Early Thursday, News Center 7’s John Bedell saw four flight cancellations on the board at Dayton International Airport. Two were arrivals, and the other two were departures.
Our crews have seen direct impacts from an FAA order reducing air traffic at airports in cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, and New York.
At Dayton’s airport, News Center 7 talked to people flying into and out of the Miami Valley.
“Visiting my grandchildren,” Virginia resident Ellen Dawe said.
“We’re flying to Punta Gorda, Florida,” Shelby County resident Karla Doseck said.
Both Doseck and Dawe said that with air traffic reductions from the FAA during the government shutdown, they’d been watching their flight status for most of the week.
“We have been keeping our eye on it just a little bit. Not really concerned,” Doseck said.
“I’ve been checking my flight all week, and this, I had the first flight to Dayton this morning out of Dulles, and every day this week it was on time,” Dawe said.
The FAA had ordered US airlines to slash thousands of flights every day heading into last weekend.
After working without pay for more than a month, air traffic control sick calls had surged.
The staffing crunch prompted the announcement.
“It’s been a significant disruption and a frustration for many people, particularly folks who don’t live near major airports,” Todd Yeary said.
Yeary is a retired air traffic controller with 13 years of experience.
News Center 7 spoke with him about how long it’ll take airports to return to normal after the shutdown.
He said that after so many routes have been canceled, the biggest challenge for travelers is: Are crews and airplanes where they need to be?
“Or might we have what could be a little more complex situation, pilots having to ferry empty airplanes to get them to airports so that they can service communities that have been disrupted by the shutdown,” Yeary said.
Travelers said they hope airports get back to normal before the holidays.
"We have some family coming down for Thanksgiving, and I hope they don’t have any trouble," Dawe said.
Yeary said he expects flight disruptions to continue to run most of the weekend.
As we get into the beginning of next week, he thinks things will start to go back to normal.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
