Major flight cuts to start Friday if shutdown drags on, FAA announces

Starting Friday, thousands of flights per day will be canceled if the government shutdown continues, the Trump administration announced.

Speaking Wednesday afternoon, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration will ask airlines to reduce their flight schedules as concerns about air traffic controller staffing grow.

The move would likely see 3,500 to 4,000 flights per day shuttered across dozens of the country’s busiest airports.

The FAA called the measure “proactive,” citing fatigue among critical aviation safety workers — who have now gone more than a month without a full paycheck during what is, as of Wednesday, the longest government shutdown in history.

“We are starting to see some evidence that fatigue is building in the system in ways that we feel we need to work towards relieving some of that pressure,” Duffy said at a news conference.

The cuts would amount to 10% of all air traffic across 40 busy cities — and would include a cutback in space launches and other flight traffic, the DOT said.

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The FAA planned to meet with airlines late Wednesday to discuss how carriers would implement the flight cutbacks.

This is a developing story. Check back soon for additional updates.