Travelers expecting a difficult scene at the region's airports Friday were relieved to find operations moving smoothly, even as dozens of flights were canceled on the first day of reduced air travel due to the federal government shutdown.

But flyers remained wary of future cancellations which will increase this week. The Federal Aviation Administration's order to ease the workload on air traffic controllers working without pay since Oct. 1 reduced flights Friday by 4%. That will increase to 10% by Nov. 14 at 40 of the nation's busiest airports, including LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark Liberty International.

There were more than 1,503 canceled flights nationwide as of about 9:45 p.m. Forty-eight were at LaGuardia, 44 at Kennedy and 49 at Newark, according to the flight-tracking website Fl

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