The travel industry has already lost $4 billion from the government shutdown. The FAA’s flight cuts starting Friday are a new threat

The air travel nightmare is only getting worse. The Federal Aviation Administration announced it will start cutting the number of flights in “high traffic” parts of the U.S. as the government shutdown continues and airports suffer from extreme staffing shortages.

There will be a 10% reduction in capacity at 40 airports, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday. That amounts to thousands of flights each day, primarily domestic and regional.

“This is about where’s the pressure and how do we alleviate the pressure,” he said.

The pressure stems from a shortage of TSA agents and air traffic controllers during the government shutdown, which began Oct. 1. The shutdown followed Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government for 2026. Democrats have blocked Republican