By RIO YAMAT and JOSH FUNK

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday halved the number of flights that airlines have to cut from their schedules at 40 busy airports as the country’s aviation system continues to recover from the longest government shutdown ever.

The agency said that beginning Saturday airlines will only have to cut 3% of their flights instead of the current 6%.

The number of canceled flights peaked last Sunday when nearly 3,000 flights — or about 10% — were cut as a result of the FAA order combined with continued shortages of controllers and severe weather in parts of the country.

By Friday afternoon, the flight tracking website FlightAware showed just 159 cancellations for Saturday in the U.S.

The rollback comes amid improved staffing levels at air traffic control

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