Travelers can expect to see fewer flights to many major U.S. cities starting Friday morning, when the Federal Aviation Administration said it would reduce traffic across 40 airports to ease the load on the nation's air traffic controllers.

The head of the FAA said the move was unprecedented but necessary to keep air travel safe as traffic controllers, who are federal employees, show increasing signs of stress and fatigue while working unpaid during the longest government shutdown on record.

Most of them worked six days a week and put in mandatory overtime even before the shutdown, but they have been doing so without paychecks as lawmakers fail to agree on a way to reopen the government.

Airports in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, along with hubs across the U.S., are among the 40 that

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