This week, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced that it would reduce air traffic by 10 per cent at 40 “high-volume” airports beginning Friday. Here’s what that could mean for Canadians.

Why are flights being reduced?

The U.S. government has been shut down since Oct. 1 in what is now the longest such event in the nation’s history. Air traffic controllers in the U.S. have thus been working unpaid for almost six weeks, leading to staffing shortages and flight delays.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, citing staffing pressures and safety reports from pilots indicating growing fatigue among controllers, said he and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy did not want to wait until the situation reached a crisis point.

“There’ll be frustration,” Duffy said . “But in the end,

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