The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Wednesday that it will reduce flight capacity by up to 10 percent at 40 major airports across the country starting Friday, citing critical staffing shortages among air traffic controllers and flight support personnel.

Thousands of employees have been working without pay for a month due to the Democrat-led government shutdown.

BREAKING: The FAA will require airlines to begin cutting flights from these 40
airports starting as early as tomorrow. Airlines will starts cutting 4% of flights per day until they reach 10% per day early next week. pic.twitter.com/0CujA6J5hm

— Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) November 6, 2025

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FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the measure during a press conference in Washington, D.C.

The list of affected airports will be released Thursday, officials said.

According to a report from ABC News citing officials familiar with the matter, the reductions will begin at roughly 4 percent on Friday and increase to 10 percent over the weekend.

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The cuts will apply to domestic flights scheduled between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

International flights will be exempt from the reductions, the report said.

“Our sole role is to make sure that we keep this airspace as safe as possible. Reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations. This is not based on light airline travel locations. This is about where the pressure is and how to really deviate the pressure,” Bedford said during the announcement.

Duffy said the agency’s decision is based on both data and staffing models that project continued pressure on the system if the shutdown persists.

“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. So the system is extremely safe today will be extremely safe tomorrow,” Bedford added.

The FAA’s decision comes as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) continues to warn that the prolonged shutdown is straining an already understaffed workforce.

NATCA, which represents more than 10,800 certified air traffic controllers nationwide, has urged Congress to pass a clean continuing resolution to restore government funding.

NATCA President Nick Daniels said controllers are being pushed to their limits as they continue to work through six-day, 10-hour schedules with no pay, amid what he described as a 3,800-person staffing shortfall.

“These American patriots, they are the unsung heroes that Secretary Duffy speaks about so often. They are the ones that have been thrust into the spotlight, into center focus of a shutdown. And air traffic controllers, we don’t start shutdowns, we’re not responsible for ending shutdowns. Who does? Congress,” Daniels told Fox News.

Controllers, who are classified as essential federal workers, received their last partial paycheck for pre-shutdown work on October 14.

Since then, they have received multiple pay cycles showing zero pay, with many logging more than 120 hours of unpaid labor.

The shutdown has also led to the furlough of 2,350 engineers, technicians, and other support personnel.

New hiring and training programs have been suspended, and ongoing maintenance and modernization projects across the national airspace system have been halted.

Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay for weeks, ensuring the safety of more than 50,000 daily operations across the national airspace system (NAS).

As we head into this weekend, a surge in callouts is straining staffing levels at multiple…

— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) November 1, 2025

Over the weekend of October 31 through November 2, the FAA logged 98 separate “staffing triggers,” which forced flight delays, ground stops, and rerouting at several major airports.

Half of the 30 busiest U.S. facilities reported significant shortages, with the New York area experiencing absences as high as 80 percent.

Industry experts and NATCA officials have warned that prolonged understaffing and maintenance delays could compromise the overall reliability of air travel nationwide.

In a recent statement, NATCA said the ongoing shutdown “erodes essential layers of safety” and makes the National Airspace System “less safe with each passing day.”

The FAA is expected to release its final list of affected airports and detailed operational adjustments on Thursday, with reductions set to begin early Friday morning.

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