LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports scrub hundreds of flights amid government shutdown

LaGuardia Airport saw more than three times as many flights canceled Sunday compared with Friday — with hundreds more scrubbed at Kennedy and Newark Liberty International airports — as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that by Thanksgiving, U.S. air traffic could "slow to a trickle" if the federal government remains shut down.

By Sunday afternoon, Day 40 of the shutdown, LaGuardia had seen more than 170 flight cancellations, compared with 57 on Saturday and 48 on Friday, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. Newark canceled 234 flights on Sunday, compared with 187 on Saturday. Kennedy Airport saw fewer cancellations on Sunday, with 58 flights scrapped compared with 104 on Saturday.

Across the country Sunday, airline daily cancellations surpassed 2,000 for the first time since the beginning of the shutdown.

Federal officials have said in order to ease the workload on air traffic controllers who have been working without pay since the shutdown started on Oct. 1, they needed to reduce air traffic.

On "Fox News Sunday," Duffy predicted a continued government shutdown this month will put a significant damper on holiday travel plans.

"As I look two weeks out, as we get closer to Thanksgiving travel, I think what’s going to happen is you’re going to have air travel slow to a trickle as everyone wants to travel to see their families," Duffy said. "More controllers aren’t coming to work day by day, the further they go without a paycheck."

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight cuts last week, starting at 4% on Friday and increasing to 10% by Nov. 14, as air traffic controllers who haven’t gotten paid in nearly a month stopped coming to work. That number could increase to 15% or 20% if the government shutdown does not end.

More than 2,100 flights were canceled across the country as of Sunday afternoon, with more than 6,300 others delayed. Staffing problems have played a role in up 71% of delay hours, according to Airlines for America.

With AP