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By Alexandra Skores, Pete Muntean, CNN Washington (CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration will reduce flights at dozens of major airports as early as Friday if no shutdown deal is reached, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced at a news conference Wednesday. Ten percent of air traffic at 40 airports would be cut, though the details of which specific airports will be impacted was not announced. “As we start to implement this draw down in service, it will be restricted to these 40 high volume traffic markets,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said. “We’re going to ask the airlines to work with us collaboratively to reduce their schedules.” The FAA will meet with the airline community to discuss implementation Wednesday night. He called the change “prescriptive” and “surgical.” “We are going to proactively make decisions that keep the airspace safe,” Duffy said. The “draw down in service” at these busy airports comes as air traffic control staffing shortages during the shutdown of have caused delays. Controllers are considered essential employees and must work during the shutdown, but are not being paid. Duffy has said some are calling in sick to work other jobs or as protest for not getting paid. “We have asked (air traffic controllers) to show up for work, but I’m not naive to understand that they’re trying to figure out how they meet their daily obligations,” Duffy said. “Because of that, we have seen staffing pressures throughout our airspace. Those who travel will see that we’ve had more delays. We’ve had more cancelations.” More than 400 staffing shortages have been reported at FAA facilites since the start of the shutdown, according to a CNN analysis. The number is more than four times what was seen on the same days last year. Bedford said the new measures would also go beyond commercial airspace and include restrictions on space launches and restrictions on small aircraft traffic in certain markets. This is a developing story and will be updated.
