By Michael Katz | Thursday, 06 November 2025 09:31 PM EST
The city of Denver has requested a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to pay air traffic controllers in an effort to avoid flight reductions at the nation’s third-busiest airport.
Denver International Airport is set to be affected by the FAA’s plan to reduce flight capacity by 10% at 40 major airports amid staffing shortages during the government shutdown. The cuts are being phased in, with about 4% Friday, 6% Sunday, and up to 10% next week if the shutdown persists.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, stated, “The Denver airport is maybe the largest economic driver in the Rocky Mountain West. It is critical to not just our quality of life, but to our economic health.” The airport, overseen by the city, requested a waiver from the FAA on Wednesday but has yet to receive a response.
The government shutdown, now in its 38th day, has strained the FAA as air traffic controllers have gone almost five weeks without pay. Many are either not reporting for work or have taken second jobs to make ends meet. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy emphasized, “Our priority is to make sure that you’re safe, and so we’re going to talk about additional measures that we are going to take that are going to reduce the risk profile in the national airspace.”
Denver officials acknowledge the risk of capacity reductions even if the waiver is approved but argue the greater threat lies in economic disruption. “The greatest risks of all are shutting down the economy by stopping air travel, which is a major economic driver for us,” Johnston said. Denver’s airport served more than 82 million passengers in 2024, according to the Airports Council International.
An automated FAA email stated, “As Secretary Duffy has said, there have been increased staffing shortages across the system. When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations.”
