Joel Rose

Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.

The FAA has ordered airlines to phase in these cuts gradually, starting with 4 percent of flights at high-traffic airports this weekend and ramping up to 10 percent next week.

The agency is dealing with staffing shortages of air traffic controllers during the government shutdown.

And Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned there could be even bigger cuts ahead.

Here he is speaking to Fox News.

The FAA wants to cut air traffic at 40 major airports, including Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas.

But the effects will ripple out to many smaller airports with flights that connect to those major hubs.

Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.

The FAA has ordered airlines to phase in these cuts gradually, starting with 4% of flights at high-traffic airports this weekend and ramping up to 10% next week.

The agency is dealing with staffing shortages of air traffic controllers during the government shutdown.

And Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned there could be even bigger cuts ahead.

Here he is speaking to Fox News.

The FAA wants to cut air traffic at 40 major airports, including Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas.

but the effects will ripple out to many smaller airports with flights that connect to those major hubs.

Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.

The FAA's plan requires airlines to phase in the cuts gradually.

So these airlines are going to cut about 4% of flights this weekend and then gradually work their way up to 10% by next Friday.

The airlines have some discretion to decide how they're going to hit those targets.

So I think it's likely that they're going to try to protect their most popular and most profitable routes.

And we also know these reductions will not apply to international flights, only to domestic.