Travelers will have fewer flight options within the U.S. starting Friday as the Federal Aviation Administration imposes schedule cuts at 40 major airports to ease the strain on air traffic controllers during the record-long government shutdown.

The head of the agency says the move is unprecedented but necessary to keep people safe as staffing shortages and unpaid work increasingly take a toll on the controllers.

Most of them worked six days a week and put in mandatory overtime even before the shutdown , but they have been doing so without paychecks as lawmakers fail to agree on a way to reopen the government.

Airports in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other airline hubs will be impacted, according to the FAA's order, which was published Thursday evening. Hundreds of fligh

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