The US Department of Transportation (DOT) is ready to order a 10% reduction in scheduled air traffic at 40 major airports starting Friday, November 7, if the federal government shutdown continues after that date, Reuters reported.

“As we start to implement this drawdown in service, it will be restricted to these 40 high-volume traffic markets,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford said. “We’re going to ask the airlines to work with us collaboratively to reduce their schedules.”

The regulator aims to alleviate pressure on air traffic controllers, who are considered essential employees and must work during the shutdown, but are not being paid. Bedford said that 20% to 40% of controllers at the agency’s 30 largest airports were not showing up for work. As the shutdown has now lasted for over 30 days, every government employee has missed at least one paycheck.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, “We are going to proactively make decisions that keep the airspace safe.”

The 40 impacted airports have not yet been revealed. l.

Duffy had warned on Tuesday that if the federal government shutdown continued another week, it could lead to "mass chaos" and force him to close some of the national airspace to air traffic.

On Friday, October 31, New York City airports were disrupted because of reduced staffing at multiple air traffic control centres.

The shutdown is already the longest in the history of the United States as the country's two parties are unable to agree on a new budget, largely over healthcare funding.