Federal officials to reduce air traffic by 10% amid government shutdown

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to reduce air traffic by 10% starting Friday at some of the country's busiest airports if the federal government shutdown continues, officials said Wednesday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the reduction would occur in 40 "high-volume traffic markets."

"We’re trying to lean into the fact that when we see pressures building in these 40 markets we just can't ignore it, you know, and 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 to prevent things from deteriorating," Bedford said at a news conference.

Air traffic controllers have been working without pay since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, resulting in delays spurred by workers calling in sick. So far, this is the longest government shutdown in the country's history, surpassing the most recent shutdown from President Donald Trump's first term that lasted 35 days between December 2018 and January 2019.  

Duffy and Bedford declined to name the areas that will be affected, saying that they needed to speak with carriers first.

New York City is home to some of the country’s busiest airports, including Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia Airport. Both JFK and LaGuardia are ranked among the 30 most active airports in the country, according to the FAA. Newark Liberty International Airport in neighboring New Jersey is also among the busiest.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports, declined to comment about the looming reduction.

It’s unclear if the decline in air traffic will affect smaller regional airports, like Long Island MacArthur Airport in the Town of Islip.

"The actions taken by the USDOT could potentially affect small airports like MacArthur. However, [MacArthur] is not part of the congested airspace of New York City, so we remain cautiously optimistic that our operation will continue with minimal disruption," MacArthur Airport Commissioner Robert Schneider said in a statement Wednesday. 

Schneider said passengers should continue to monitor their flights and contact airline carriers if there are any disruptions.

Bedford said that passengers shouldn’t be worried about flying, but didn’t rule out the possibility of future air traffic reductions, which comes as Thanksgiving and other holidays are approaching.

"The system is extremely safe today. It will be extremely safe tomorrow and if the pressures continue to build even after we take these measures we’ll come back and take additional measures," he said. "We’re trying to be prescriptive, surgical, and put the relief where the relief will do the most good. But again we are not going to do anything that will compromise the safety of air transport in the United States."