FAA airport shutdown live updates: Nation’s biggest travel hubs brace for impacts from 10 percent cut in flights

Here’s Sean Duffy’s announcement Wednesday about the cutbacks, which he had warned were coming without a resolution to the government shutdown being forged by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The deadlock became the longest in U.S. history earlier this week and is now into its 38th day, surpassing the 35-dayer in 2018/2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Airports across the U.S. are bracing for chaos as cuts to flight schedules made by the Federal Aviation Administration come into effect amid the ongoing government shutdown, now the longest in American history.

By late Thursday over 800 flights within and in and out of the U.S. had already been canceled for Friday according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.com.

Around 200 flights were canceled Thursday as airports and passengers prepared to bear the brunt of the measures.

It comes after Transport Secretary Sean Duffy and the FAA announced that 40 of the country’s busiest airports across two dozen states, including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago, would be phasing in a 10 percent reduction in their flight schedules.

The disruptions will affect service at many smaller airports too and some travelers had already started changing or canceling their itineraries.

Here’s Mike Bedigan and Rhian Lubin to set the scene.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Friday’s expected travel chaos across major U.S. airports after the Trump administration ordered 10 percent reductions in flights from major airports due to a shortage of air traffic controllers caused by the ongoing government shutdown.