The cancellation rate for US domestic flights has ticked up seven days into a temporary shutdown of the federal government. As of the late morning of 7 October, East Coast time, 2,550 of the 18,900 US domestic flights scheduled to depart that day had been either cancelled or assigned "unknown" status, representing 14% of all published scheduled flights. Cirium applies the "unknown" label to published flights that have not yet been officially cancelled but were not observed in flight. Airlines sometimes do not publish official cancellations for flights they do not operate. The previous day, on 6 October, 441 US domestic flights were cancelled or unknown out of 21,477 flights, representing 2% of scheduled flights. On the first day of the shutdown, 1 October, 2% of domestic flights were likewise classified by Cirium as cancelled or unknown. The shutdown began that day after the US House of Representatives failed to approve bill HR 5371, which would have provided continuing full-year appropriations for federal agencies. Cirium on 2 October asked the US Federal Aviation Administration if the temporary shutdown of the federal government would affect air traffic control staffing. In its response, the US Department of Transportation – of which the FAA is a part – did not address the potential impact on ATC staffing but did blame the shutdown on "radical" Congressional Democratic party leaders who seek to "give illegal immigrants benefits". Speaking at a press conference on 6 October, US transportation secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that air traffic control staff must report to work even if the federal government is unable to pay those workers. "The controllers have to show up for work," Duffy says. "They have to come to work. They're part of our critical infrastructure. The problem is, they're going to show up for work and they're not going to get paycheques." Duffy suggests that air traffic controllers might seek second jobs, which could lead to some calling in sick. Absenteeism is "a concern", he says. "If someone has to take sick leave to drive Uber to make the difference, those are decisions they're going to make themselves. But, of course, that's concerning for us." He adds: "I want them to get paid for the work they're doing today, keeping our planes in the air and our sky safe." Duffy notes that while the FAA is "tracking" absenteeism among air traffic control staff, as of now there is not "one facility that has had long-term issues with sick leave". "But they come to work without a guarantee that they're going to get paid, which is why they're so concerned as they're in these towers, controlling this airspace, thinking about what's going to happen in their own homes," he adds.

Spirit Airlines has asked a US court for permission to reject leases on 87 aircraft out of its 214-strong all-Airbus fleet. In a motion filed with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on 2 October, the US carrier asks the court to enter an order to reject certain equipment leases for aircraft and other related equipment that Spirit says it no longer needs in the operation of its business. In its 29 August disclosure that it had once again filed for Chapter 11, Spirit pledged that in its latest restructuring it would "be far more strategic about" its fleet and markets than it had been during its first restructuring after its previous November 2024 filing. Florida-based Spirit disclosed in September that it would furlough around 1,800 flight attendants from 1 December. Later that month, vice-president of network planning Andrea Lusso told staff in a 26 September internal memo that the carrier would suspend about 40 routes in November and cease service to two cities. "To align our fleet with our previously announced network adjustments, we have filed a motion with the court to reject certain aircraft leases," "This step is expected to generate significant cost savings for the airline. The motion is subject to court approval, and we continue to engage with key stakeholders, including our lessors, as part of our ongoing restructuring to position Spirit for the future." Of Spirit's 214 aircraft, 166 are leased, Fleets data shows. AerCap ranks first in number of aircraft leased to Spirit, with 37 (19 A320neos and 18 A321neos), followed by SMBC Aviation Capital (26, comprising four A320ceos and 22 A320neos) and Jackson Square Aviation (23, comprising one A320ceo, 18 A320neos and four A321neos).

Turkish Airlines' planned investment in Air Europa will give the two carriers greater reach into their respective route networks, the Istanbul-based carrier's finance chief has suggested. Speaking on stage at the ISTAT EMEA conference in Prague on 6 October, Murat Seker said Turkish's intention to take a minority stake in Air Europa represented an opportunity to expand beyond its "organic growth prospects". Turkish agreed earlier this year to acquire a 25-30% holding in Madrid-based Air Europa for €300 million ($352 million). Seker notes that Spain is the second-most-visited country in Europe, while Turkiye is fifth most visited. Thus the tie-up "could be a great way to connect Madrid with Istanbul, to start with". There is also potential for Star Alliance member Turkish to expand beyond the 10 destinations it serves in Latin America, while Air Europa will be able to take advantage of its partner's Asian network. "Istanbul is the most connected city globally, and then through Istanbul airport, you can connect anywhere within two hours," adds Seker. He cites lack of widebody capacity as one of the factors that influenced Turkish's decision to invest in Air Europa. Seker predicts that Turkish will grow from 500 aircraft at year-end to 620 within the next 10 years. This will allow it to add more services to the Americas and also increase capacity into Asia. The airline plans to add a second daily bank of services from Istanbul to the market. "They usually leave at night and then arrive early morning and then either distribute to Europe or, if they visit Istanbul, Turkiye. But if we add like a new bank to that, it will provide additional opportunities to collect and distribute," says Seker.