The Federal Aviation Administration will begin cutting the number of flights in the “high traffic” parts of the country as the government shutdown grinds on and local airports have reported staffing shortages, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday.
“There is going to be a 10 percent reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations,” Duffy said. “This is about where’s the pressure and how do we alleviate the pressure.”
He said the reduction in capacity would start Friday.
The development comes as the shutdown has entered its second month and in the wake of a weekend during which dozens of American airports reported hundreds of delays.
More than 5,000 flights traveling from and to U.S. airports were delayed on Sunday alone, and the Transportation Security Administration said it screened nearly 2.7 million people around the country.
And on Monday evening, there were 2,885 delays on flights traveling within, to and out of U.S. airports and 70 more were canceled, according to FlightAware.com.
Hardest hit were travelers flying in and out of Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with more than 900 delays and 35 cancellations between them.
The shutdown has meant that essential workers, including air traffic controllers, have been working without pay. That has led to a shortage of anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 controllers, Duffy has previously said.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency is not waiting for the situation to get worse. “We can’t ignore it,” he said.
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