The government shutdown-spurred airport chaos is about to get a whole lot worse.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it will reduce flight volumes by 10 percent across 40 major airports in response, a move that could threaten 3,000 to 4,500 flights daily. The cuts will affect “high volume” markets, including in Atlanta, Dallas, New York City and Los Angeles, according to CBS. The FAA has not formally announced which airports will have their capacity cut.
“I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said at a news conference, according to the AP.
The government shutdown, which is now the longest in US history, has already been causing thousands of delays each day, as well as long waits at airport security. Some major airports have even been forced to operate without air traffic control for hours at a time.
Air traffic controllers and TSA agents have missed several paychecks as a result of the shutdown. But both are considered essential government employees that requires them to continue working.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been one of the more vocal members of President Trump’s cabinet in heaping scorn on Democrats during the shutdown, including posting offensive AI-generated images of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries on X. And Democrats have accused him of using his control over the nation’s airspace as leverage in the stalemate. Earlier this week, Duffy told CNBC that he could “shut the whole airspace down” if the shutdown drags on.