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With the historic federal government standoff stretches toward day 38, US skies is about to get a little less busy. This doesn't apply for US terminals.

Protective Actions Implemented

The current administration's aviation regulatory body has said flights are being reduced to uphold air traffic control security during the federal government shutdown, setting a new duration record and with no apparent progress of a resolution between Republicans and liberal officials to end the federal budget standoff.

Airline regulators selected “congested corridors” where the FAA says air traffic must be reduced by 4% by early morning Eastern Time on Friday, an action that will compel airlines to cancel thousands of flights and cause a cascade of scheduling complications and hold-ups at some of the nation’s largest airports.

Administration Remarks

The federal transportation leader, Sean Duffy, wrote on social media Thursday that the decision was “not politically driven” but rather “involving evaluation the data and reducing building risk in the system as controllers continue working without pay”.

“It’s safe to fly today, tomorrow, and the day after because of the proactive actions we are taking,” Duffy stated.

Flight Cancellations

Experts predict hundreds if not thousands of flights might be called off. The flight decreases might account for up to 1,800 flights and more than 268,000 seats collectively, based on an estimate by the aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Affected Airports

The involved terminals including more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the US – including ATL, Charlotte, DEN, Dallas/Fort Worth, MCO, California gateway, MIA and San Francisco. Within major metropolitan areas – such as New York, Houston and Chicago – multiple airports will be impacted.

All three airports serving the Washington DC area – Washington Dulles international, Baltimore/Washington international and Ronald Reagan Washington national – will be impacted, inevitably causing schedule changes for elected representatives as well as additional passengers.

Related Updates

• Here’s the roster of domestic airports decreasing flights on Friday because of federal government closure.
• A previous justice department staffer who threw a sandwich at a federal agent during Donald Trump’s law enforcement increase in DC received a not guilty verdict of assault by a DC jury on Thursday in the latest legal setback of the federal involvement.
• Some Democratic legislators interpreted Tuesday’s significant election victories as indication they should stand firm and extract as much as possible from Republicans before approving the termination of the lengthiest federal closure in history.
• Democratic officials lauded Nancy Pelosi as a “bold, groundbreaking” member of the US House of Representatives, an “legend” and the “greatest speaker in American history”, after her declaration that after 20 terms in Congress she intends to step down.
• The conservative leader, the chief of the political research group behind the policy blueprint, expressed regret for endorsing Tucker Carlson’s interview with Hitler fan Nick Fuentes, but is resisting calls to step down.