FAA to reduce flights due to shutdown's air traffic controller shortage 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is reducing flight capacity by 10 percent at 40 “high-traffic” areas around the country starting Friday morning, its administrator, Bryan Bedford, said Wednesday.

Bedford, during a press conference alongside Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, called the move “appropriate to continue to take the pressure off of” air traffic controllers, who are set to miss their second consecutive paycheck on Tuesday amid the record-long government shutdown.

Controller absences have increased as a result, leading to travel disruptions nationwide. 

“The data is telling us we need to do more, and we are going to do more,” Bedford said. “And I want to reassure the American travelers that it is absolutely safe to fly in the American skies.”

The decision comes a day after Duffy warned that the Department of Transportation (DOT) may have to close certain parts of the country’s airspace if the funding lapse persists. Duffy told reporters that air traffic controllers cannot “manage missing two paychecks" and the shutdown inserts more “risk” in the nation's air travel system.

On Wednesday, Duffy called the FAA’s move “proactive” and an attempt to keep the country’s airspace safe.

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