The Federal Aviation Administration is forcing airlines to cut 10% of their flights at 40 of the busiest airports across the nation to reduce pressure on air traffic controllers during the ongoing government shutdown and ensure that flying remains safe.
The cuts will start to take effect on Friday. Travelers should check with their airlines to see if their flight has been cut. Here is a list of airports affected:
1. Anchorage International in Alaska
2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in Georgia
3. Boston Logan International in Massachusetts
4. Baltimore/Washington International in Maryland
5. Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina
6. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International in Kentucky
7. Dallas Love Field in Texas
8. Ronald Reagan Washington National in Virginia
9. Denver International in Colorado
10. Dallas/Fort Worth International in Texas
11. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in Michigan
12. Newark Liberty International in New Jersey
13. Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International in Florida
14. Honolulu International in Hawaii
15. Houston Hobby in Texas
16. Washington Dulles International in Virginia
17. George Bush Houston Intercontinental in Texas
18. Indianapolis International in Indiana
19. John F. Kennedy International in New York
20. Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas
21. Los Angeles International in California
22. LaGuardia Airport in New York
23. Orlando International in Florida
24. Chicago Midway International in Illinois
25. Memphis International in Tennessee
26. Miami International in Florida
27. Minneapolis/St Paul International in Minnesota
28. Oakland International in California
29. Ontario International in California
30. Chicago O`Hare International in Illinois
31. Portland International in Oregon
32. Philadelphia International in Pennsylvania
33. Phoenix Sky Harbor International in Arizona
34. San Diego International in California
35. Louisville International in Kentucky
36. Seattle/Tacoma International in Washington
37. San Francisco International in California
38. Salt Lake City International in Utah
39. Teterboro in New Jersey
40. Tampa International in Florida
An American Airline plane is moving to a terminal at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sylvester Stallone, Kiss and Gloria Gaynor are among the luminaries being celebrated Sunday at the annual Kennedy Center Honors, with Donald Trump hosting the show, the first time a president will command the stage instead of sitting in an Opera House box.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has made the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which is named after a Democratic predecessor, a touchstone in a broader attack against what he has lambasted as “woke” anti-American culture.
Trump said in August that he had agreed to host the show. The Republican president said Saturday at a State Department dinner for the honorees that he was doing so “at the request of a certain television network.” He predicted that the broadcast, scheduled to air Dec. 23 on CBS and Paramount+, would have its best ratings ever.
“It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen" on Sunday night, Trump said.
Trump is assuming a role that has been held in the past by journalist Walter Cronkite and comedian and Trump nemesis Stephen Colbert, among others. Before Trump, presidents watched the show alongside the honorees. Trump skipped the honors altogether during his first term.
Since 1978, the honors have recognized stars for their influence on American culture and the arts. Members of this year's class are pop-culture standouts, including Stallone for his “Rocky” and “Rambo” movies, Gaynor for her feminist anthem “I Will Survive” and Kiss for its flashy, cartoonish makeup and onstage displays of smoke and fire. Country music superstar George Strait and Tony Award-winning actor Michael Crawford are also being honored.
The ceremony is expected to be emotional for the members of Kiss. The band’s original lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, died in October after he was injured during a fall. The band's co-founder Gene Simmons, speaking on the red carpet when he and the other honorees arrived for the ceremony, said the president had assured him there would be an empty chair among the members of Kiss in memory of Frehley.
Crawford called it “a beautiful honor” and said, “It’s humbling, especially at the end of a career.”
Mike Farris, an award-winning gospel singer who is performing for Gaynor, said she is a dear friend. “She truly did survive,” Farris said on the red carpet. "What an iconic song.”
Previous honorees have come from a broad range of art forms, whether dance (Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham), theater (Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber), movies (Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks) or music (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell).
Trump upended decades of bipartisan support for the center by ousting its leadership and stacking the board of trustees with Republican supporters, who then elected him chair. He has criticized the center’s programming and the building’s appearance — and has said, perhaps jokingly, that he would rename it as the “Trump Kennedy Center.” He secured more than $250 million from Congress for renovations of the building.
Presidents of each political party have at times found themselves face to face with artists of opposing political views. Republican Ronald Reagan was there for honoree Arthur Miller, a playwright who championed liberal causes. Democrat Bill Clinton, who had signed an assault weapons ban into law, marked the honors for Charlton Heston, an actor and gun rights advocate.
During Trump’s first term, multiple honorees were openly critical of the president. In 2017, Trump’s first year in office, honors recipient and film producer Norman Lear threatened to boycott his own ceremony if Trump attended. Trump stayed away during that entire term.
Trump has said he was deeply involved in choosing the 2025 honorees and turned down some recommendations because they were “too woke." While Stallone is one of Trump's Hollywood ”special ambassadors" and has likened Trump to George Washington, the political views of Sunday's other guests are less clear.
Strait and Gaynor have said little about their politics, although Federal Election Commission records show that Gaynor has given money to Republican organizations in recent years.
Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons spoke favorably of Trump when Trump ran for president in 2016. But in 2022, Simmons told Spin magazine that Trump was “out for himself” and criticized Trump for encouraging conspiracy theories and public expressions of racism.
Fellow Kiss member Paul Stanley denounced Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, and said Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were “terrorists.” But after Trump won in 2024, Stanley urged unity.
“If your candidate lost, it’s time to learn from it, accept it and try to understand why,” Stanley wrote on X. "If your candidate won, it’s time to understand that those who don’t share your views also believe they are right and love this country as much as you do.”
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Italie reported from New York.
2025 Kennedy Center Honoree George Strait, center left, and his family arrive on the red carpet for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
2025 Kennedy Center Honoree Michael Crawford, center, and his family arrive on the red carpet for the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
President Donald Trump, left, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees, front row from left, Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford; back row from left, members of the rock band KISS, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss, pose for a group photo at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
