The Federal Aviation Administration will slash flight capacity by 10% at 40 major airports starting Friday, an unprecedented move as the government shutdown enters its second month and air traffic controllers work without pay.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the cuts could affect 3,500 to 4,000 flights daily at the country’s busiest airports. The reductions will be phased in starting at 4% Friday and ramping up to the full 10% by next week.
“This is proactive,” Duffy said. “We are going to proactively make decisions that keep the airspace safe.”
The cuts will hit all major U.S. hubs including Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, all three New York City-area airports, Chicago O’Hare, Boston Logan, and airports in Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Phoenix, Baltimore, and Seattle.
“As we slice the data more granularly, we are seeing pressures build in a way that we don’t feel, if we allow it to go unchecked, will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest airline system in the world,” Bedford said Wednesday.
The Democrat-run government shutdown, which entered its 36th day Wednesday, has forced air traffic controllers to work without pay. Controllers are required to report to work as essential employees, but many are calling out sick or taking second jobs to pay their bills.
“We have asked [air traffic controllers] to show up for work, but I’m not naive to understand that they’re trying to figure out how they meet their daily obligations,” Duffy said. “Because of that, we have seen staffing pressures throughout our airspace.”
More than 400 staffing shortages have been reported at FAA facilities since the start of the shutdown. The number is more than four times at the same time last year.
“We’re not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent, you know, things from deteriorating,” he said.
The cuts will apply to flights scheduled between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. International flights are exempt from the reductions.
The FAA manages more than 44,000 flights a day, including commercial passenger, cargo, and private aircraft.
The FAA said it will consider various factors when finalizing the cuts, including airlines that already operate less-than-daily service at an airport. Bedford said the cuts to each airline’s flight schedules will be proportionate.
Duffy warned that if the shutdown continues, the FAA may be forced to take more drastic steps.
“You will see mass flight delays, you’ll see mass cancellations,” he told reporters.
Duffy said the FAA could close parts of U.S. airspace next week if the shutdown continues. “If the pressures continue to build even after we take these measures, we’ll come back and take additional measures,” Bedford said.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairperson Jennifer Homendy posted early Thursday on X that the drawdown is “the right thing to do,” adding that “pressures are building in the system.”
The FAA had been struggling with staffing shortages even before the shutdown. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump is aware of the FAA restrictions.