• In November 2025, the FAA imposed phased flight reductions of up to 10 percent at 40 major US airports due to prolonged air-traffic controller staffing shortages, disrupting passenger travel and affecting cargo reliant on belly space.
• The airfreight industry absorbed the impact through pre-existing resilience measures: diverting shipments to dedicated freighters, using secondary airports, adjusting time windows, and prioritising critical cargo.
• Key lessons highlighted structural vulnerabilities—hub dependence, passenger network reliance, and labour fragility—reinforcing the importance of diversified routes, contingency planning, and operational flexibility for future disruptions.

In November 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered flight reductions of up to 10 percent at 40 of America’s busiest airports, citing severe staffing shortages triggered by a record-breaking government shutdown. The phased cuts, starting at 4 percent and climbing to 10 percent, affected major hubs from Los Angeles to Atlanta, disrupting an air-traffic system already stretched thin by more than a month of unpaid controllers working mandatory overtime. 

Though framed as a predominantly passenger-travel crisis, the implications for the air cargo industry were immediate. Roughly half of international freight entering the US flies in passenger bellies, meaning that any capacity squeeze pressures the whole supply chain downstream. Yet early assessments suggested dedicated freighters weathered the storm with minimal disruption, a testament to an industry that has spent years building resilience into its operating model.

What triggered the cuts and why we paid attention

Air-traffic controllers had been working without pay for over a month. Absenteeism spread. The FAA responded by ordering traffic reductions at high-volume airports, initially targeting 4 percent but projecting a climb toward 10 percent if staffing diminished further. Major cargo nodes such as Louisville, Memphis and Anchorage were on the list.

  For forwarders, the concern was not just reduced passenger capacity. It was the added effects: disrupted sort schedules, delayed build-up operations and the time-critical nature of first-mile movements.

Past shocks shaped resilience

This disruption fits within a longer pattern. The 2018–19 shutdown created measurable strain: overtime freezes, TSA staffing gaps and ground delays that forced last-minute rerouting.

The 2023 NOTAM-system outage also produced a near-national ground stop, triggering mass diversions and heavy reliance on flexible capacity. Weather events in Denver, Chicago and Texas between 2022 and 2024 have also reinforced one basic truth: plan for at least one major disruption per year.

Each crisis refined the playbook. Operators diversified gateways, sought alternate routes, increased freighter reliance during volatility and invested in digital tools like electronic ULD tracking to bolster fast reallocation. In short, this year’s shutdown has not caught the industry flat-footed; rather, it has validated years of preparation.

How companies adapted in real time

Routing flexibility: Freight shifted from belly to freighters or diverted through unaffected cities. As one analyst noted, “cargo airlines and shippers faced mixed impacts,” but rapid re-routing smoothed the worst disruptions.

 Time-window adjustments: With restrictions concentrated in daytime hours, high-priority shipments moved to overnight departures or were trucked to alternate gateways with far greater operational freedom. 

Buffer creation: Forwarders advised shippers to widen delivery windows and advance cut-off times by 12–24 hours. “This is a stressful time,” supply-chain professor Patrick Penfield observed. “You just lost some of your capacity.” 

Prioritising critical cargo: Pharmaceuticals, perishables and high-value electronics moved to the front of allocation queues as carriers tightened capacity management.

Secondary airport utilisation: Airports outside the 40-airport restriction absorbed additional volume, accelerating a decentralisation trend that gained momentum during the pandemic.

Revelations about airfreight

Hub dependence remains a vulnerability. Chicago, Atlanta, Memphis and Louisville—any systemic restriction at these nodes affects cargo immediately.

Passenger networks matter more than ever. With nearly half of US inbound international cargo flying in bellies, passenger disruptions inevitably bleed into freight. 

Contingency planning works. Investing in freighter networks, diversified hubs and flexible schedules helps prevent widespread delays.

Labour fragility is a structural risk. The root cause was not weather or cyber-attack; it was staffing. Human-capital constraints can shut down infrastructure as effectively as physical events.

Looking ahead

The shutdown was temporary, but its lessons are not.

Resilience now defines competitiveness. Carriers are likely to continue diversifying hub strategies, while shippers increasingly favour routes that build in redundancy over those optimised purely for cost. As climate, labour and regulatory risks multiply, the airfreight industry’s ability to adapt quickly, as it did this month, will determine how well it navigates the next shock.

Needless to say, the 2025 shutdown did not break America’s airfreight network. However, it did show exactly where the cracks are and reminded operators that stress tests sometimes show up unannounced.