Delays, cancellations still occurring at Reid, other airports

That sigh of relief by travelers after congressional leaders passed a temporary spending bill Wednesday may have been premature as airport delays and flight cancellations are likely for at least another few days.

FlightAware, which tracks flights worldwide, on Thursday said there were 56 cancellations and 101 delays at Harry Reid International Airport and 1,022 cancellations and 3,131 delays within the United States at midafternoon.

The Federal Aviation Administration indicated Thursday that it is freezing flight reductions at 6 percent as air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration workers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents return to work after a 43-day government shutdown.

FlightAware indicated the biggest aviation chokepoints Thursday were at Chicago and San Francisco.

FlightAware is projecting 35 cancellations at Reid on Friday and one on Saturday.

A TSA administrator in Las Vegas said Wednesday that employees not reporting for work has not been as big a problem at Reid than other airports because of the widespread community support for workers.

Karen Burke, federal security director for the TSA at Reid, thanked the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors for providing gasoline vouchers to the airport’s federal employees.

Local businesses and individuals also stocked a food pantry at the airport for employees who went nearly six weeks without a paycheck but were required by law to report for work.

Aviation experts have said it could take several days for flight operations to get back to normal because of the logistics of moving aircraft to where they need to be to maintain a schedule, and because there’s a backlog of work — including safety inspections — that haven’t been done for weeks.

A Reid representative on Thursday thanked federal workers for keeping the airport safe and the public for contributing to the airport’s food pantry. And, the message to check with airlines for updated flight information was repeated.

“Currently our operations are running smoothly and we want to thank all of the federal employees that have kept LAS safe and operating,” the Reid spokesman wrote in an email.

“We also want to thank our community partners that donated to our food and essentials pantry to help provide for the federal employees during the government shutdown. We are keeping the pantry open until the federal employees receive their pay. We still want to encourage travelers to stay up to date with their airlines for the latest information.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.