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Americas aviation system is straining under the weight of the longest government shutdown on record: thousands of flight cancellations, long delays at major airports, and frustrated travelers nationwide. In an unprecedented move, the Federal Aviation Administration last week ordered airlines to scale back domestic flight schedules, saying the cuts are meant to ease pressure on an overstretched system and help manage air traffic control staffing. Unpaid for more than a month, some air traffic controllers have begun calling out of work, citing stress and the need to take on second jobsleaving more control towers and facilities short-staffed. The numbers show the shutdown’s toll on air travel: 40 Major U.S. airports where all commercial airlines have been required to cancel flights since Nov. 7 under the FAA’s orders. The list spans more than two dozen states and includes large hubs such as New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Chicago. 12 Airports on the FAA’s list of 40 where the agency also expanded restrictions to limit business jets and many private flights. 4% The initial reduction in flight schedules ordered by the FAA. 10% The FAA’s ultimate flight cut target, which is expected to take effect Friday. The agency has said the restrictions will remain in place until staffing in its air traffic control facilities stabilizes and safety measurements improve, even if the shutdown ends before Friday. 1.9 million Daily passengers who use the 40 airports where flights have been reduced, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 5.2 million Passengers who have been affected by staffing-related delays or cancellations since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, according to Airlines for America. The industry trade group represents Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue. 9,500 Flights canceled between Nov. 7, the first day of the FAA-required cuts, and mid-day Wednesday, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. 30 The average number of air traffic control facilities that had staffing issues during the six weekends since the shutdown began on Oct. 1. That is almost four times the number on weekends this year before the shutdown, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans sent through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center system. $10,000 How much President Donald Trump suggested air traffic controllers should receive as a bonus if they didn’t miss any days of work during the shutdown. Trump also threatened docking pay for those who haven’t stayed on the job. $285 million to $580 million The daily U.S. economic impact once the FAA’s 10% cuts take effect, according to Airlines for America, which said its estimate factors in reduced visitor spending, state and local tax revenue and spending across the broader economy. Rio Yamat, Associated Press Associated Press journalist Christopher L. Keller contributed.
Category:
E-Commerce
A penny for your thoughts? Well, maybe try a nickel. Though it will remain legal tender, the last-ever one-cent coin was printed Wednesdayand not without some drama. After being in circulation for 232 years, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia hosted a ceremonial event during which U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach struck the final circulating penny. There are an estimated 300 billion pennies currently in circulation, a number far exceeding the amount needed for commerce, the Mint said in a statement but retailers say theyve already been dealing with coin shortages and a lot of confusion about how to price goods and services. It took about nine months for the pennys final day to arrive. In February, President Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the Mint to stop making the coin, citing the rising cost of production. Indeed, the Mint said the cost of making a penny has more-than doubled during the past decade, to 3.69 cents per penny. The coin has long been a target of lawmakers: As far back as 1989, legislation has periodically been proposed to limit or eliminate penny production. But its death knell ultimately came at the hands of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year. THE PRO-PENNY GROUP Even though end days for the penny were announced in February, retailers and penny proponents are now grappling with what its elimination means. A perhaps-surprisingly vocal group has fought for years to keep the penny in our pockets. Americans for Common Cents is a pro-penny lobbying group that has an incentive to keep the coins in circulation as it is primarily funded by Artazn, the company that provides the blanks used to make pennies. Americans for Common Cents argued in February that the penny is not as problematic as it seems and eliminating this coin will actually increase minting costs if demand surges for nickels, which are even more expensive to mint. In response to Trumps announcement about the pennys end days, the group advocated instead for modernizing the currency system and, instead of eliminating the penny, focusing on making coin production more efficient. Since then, phasing out the penny has been a bit chaotic partly because theres no real plan for what retailers should do, Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents, told CNN on Wednesday. When countries like Canada, Australia and Switzerland removed low-denomination coins from circulation there was guidance for retailersand thats not been the case in the U.S., he said. By the time we reach Christmas, the problems will be more pronounced with retailers not having pennies, Weller told CNN. PENNY PAIN FOR RETAILERS But a penny shortage has already arrived, affecting retailers like gas stations that handle a lot of these coins. And retail groups told Reuters last week that theyre frustrated by the lack of guidance theyve received from the Trump administration, which has forced them to round down transactions to avoid upsetting customers and violating laws in some states. Kwik Trip, which operates about 900 convenience stores in the midwest, announced last month that all cash purchases will be rounded down to the nearest five centsand that the policy will remain in place until a permanent legislative solution is enacted. Rounding down transactions may not seem like a big deal, but it could become a significant cost for high-volume businesses where pennies are commonplace. And to counteract the coin shortage, some stores are offering incentives to customers who pay with pennies, according to Reuters reporting. Any merchant that accepts cash is grappling with this, Dylan Jeon, senior director of government relations with the National Retail Federation, told Reuters. A spokesperson for the Treasury Department didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from Fast Company with any guidance for retailers. PENNY LEGACY The penny was first minted in 1792 and has seen many evolutions in materials over its lifetime, including during World War II when it was made from a zinc-coated steel due to a copper shortage in 1943. The image of President Abraham Lincoln first appeared on the penny in 1909 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of his birth. While pennies for circulation will be discontinued, the Mint will continue to produce a limited quantity of the coin for historical and collector purposes. And its mostly focused on celebrating the copper-colored coin. While general production concludes today, the pennys legacy lives on, Kristie McNally, acting Mint director, said in a statement. As its usage in commerce continues to evolve, its significance in Americas story will endure.
Category:
E-Commerce
Six hundred employees just packed up their desks and quit their jobs at Paramount Skydance. The mass exodus happened after the company, formed by Skydance Medias takeover of Paramount Global, told employees that they were instating a five-day back-to-office mandate, set to begin on January 5. The company, led by new CEO David Ellison, let staffers know that if they didn’t plan to come back to the office, they could take a buyout deal starting on September 15. However, the media giant likely didn’t expect to be handing out quite so many severance packages. According to company disclosures filed on Monday, around 600 employees in the Los Angeles and New York offices at the vice-president level and below took the deal, which reportedly cost Paramount Skydance $185 million in “restructuring changes.” While the company may be trimming employees, it doesnt seem to be trimming spending. The company called for incremental programming investments in 2026 in excess of $1.5 billion. Paramount said it had already trimmed about 1,000 employees earlier this year and expects to cut around 1,600 more, as the company moves to divest both Televisión Federal in Argentina and Chilevision in Chile in an attempt to ensure continued focus. The restructuring comes after Ellison took charge of the company post-merger and pressed the importance of in-person work. I believe that in-person collaboration is absolutely vital to building and strengthening our culture and driving the success of our business,” Ellison wrote in a September memo. “Our people are the key to winning, and being together helps us innovate, solve problems, share ideas, create, challenge one another, and build relationships that will make this company great.” Still, an $185 million price tag seems a tad excessive for more collaboration. Either way, Paramount is not the only media giant to enforce a return-to-office mandate.NBCUniversal recently announced workers would have to return to the office at least four days a week, in a similar policy beginning in January. Comcast, the parent company of NBCU, previously did the same. While employees leaving in large numbers due to such mandates seems like a major upheaval, some research says that is the point (at least in part). According to a 2024 Bamboo HR report, back-to-office mandates can help companies avoid layoffs. Per the report, nearly 2 in 5 managers, directors, and executives (37%) say their company enacted layoffs in the last year because fewer employees than they expected quit during their RTO. Likewise, 25% of VP and C-suite executives and nearly 1 in 5 HR pros (18%) say they actually hoped employees would voluntarily leave amid mandates. Either way, back-to-office mandates are fairly unpopular, so the true cost to companies remains to be seen. However, when it comes to media giants, at least, some of the cost will trickle down to the customer. Paramount Skydance is planning to raise Paramount+ subscription prices starting January 15. Both the Essential (ad-supported) plan and Premium (ad-free) plan will go up by $1, to $8.99 and $13.99 per month, respectively. “Our ongoing investments in Paramount+ are enhancing the value we deliver to consumers,” Ellison said. “To support this continued investment, we plan to implement price increases in the U.S. early in the first quarter of 2026.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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