US flight cancellations accelerate as airlines comply with government shutdown order

(AP) -- U.S. airlines began canceling hundreds of flights Thursday due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s order to reduce traffic at the country’s busiest airports starting Friday because of the government shutdown.

Nearly 700 planned Friday flights were cut from airline schedules, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions. That number, already four times higher than Thursday's daily total, was likely to keep climbing.

The 40 airports selected by the FAA span more than two dozen states and include hubs such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, according to a list distributed to the airlines and obtained by The Associated Press. In some metropolitan areas, including New York, Houston, Chicago and Washington, multiple air