• by Tanya Gazdik , 6 hours ago

Travelers may have to settle for staying home for the holidays. 

Flight cancellations are expected to grow in the coming days, threatening to wreak further havoc for airlines and travelers as Thanksgiving approaches.

As of 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, more than 9,500 flights within, into, or out of the United States had been delayed, according to FlightAware. Over 2,700 flights had already been canceled, according to USA Today.

“At one point on Saturday, 18 out of 22 controllers in Atlanta did not show up to work, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’” according to The New York Times.

The flight reductions went into effect Friday, on Day 38 of the federal government shutdown, now the longest such shutdown in U.S. history, according to NBC News. 

“It’s only going to get worse,”Duffy said. “I’d look to the two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle.”

Duffy says even if the govenment shutdown ends today, staffing shortages of air traffic controllers likely can't be resolved before one of the busiest travel periods of the year, according to NBC News. 

American canceled about 740 flights on Friday and Saturday, or more than 6.5% of its schedule for those days, according to Cirium, an aviation data firm. Delta canceled about 640 flights across both days, or over 7% of its schedule, while United cut over 450 flights or more than 5% of its schedule.

“But the disruption was worse on Sunday,” notes The New York Times. “More than 2,000 flights had been canceled by midafternoon, making it the year’s fourth worst day for cancellations, behind a handful of days in January when storms disrupted flying, according to Cirium.” 

The administration announced Wednesday that it would direct U.S. carriers to trim their schedules by 10% at 40 U.S. airports — including major hubs in Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Dallas.

Under the plan released Thursday, the cutbacks were to be phased in, beginning with a 4% cut on Friday, followed by a 6%cut by Tuesday, an 8% cut by Thursday and a 10% reduction by Nov. 14.

The FAA decided not to cut any international flights as it would be a violation of international agreements with the countries, Duffy told ABC News. 

Aviation analyst Henry Harteveldt warned that the situation could worsen. “This the calm before the storm,” Harteveldt told The Washington Post. “As bad as a 4% cut is, when you get to 10%, you are more than doubling the number of canceled flights.”