USA announces cancellation of flights amid ‘shutdown’

“We are short of 2,000 air traffic controllers,” he explained, highlighting that it is necessary to “reduce pressure” with a smaller number of flights to be supervised by the teams.

Since October 1, thousands of federal employees have been on unpaid leave and hundreds of thousands more continue to work without pay until the crisis is resolved.

More than 60,000 air traffic controllers and transport security agents are in this second group. So, instead of working without pay for several weeks, some stopped showing up for work.

“We will ask airlines to work with us to reduce their flight plans,” said the head of the agency that regulates air traffic, the FAA, Bryan Bedford.

“We can take action today to prevent the situation from getting worse,” he added.

“Today the system is extremely secure and will continue to be so tomorrow. And if the pressure continues to increase even after we take these measures, we will go back and take additional measures.”