Washington: The federal government shutdown has severely impacted U.S. aviation, with more than 10,000 flights delayed in a single day yesterday. The shutdown, which began on October 1st due to the failure of a temporary funding bill by Congress, entered its 40th day yesterday, marking the longest in U.S. history and having a severe impact on aviation. Authorities have grounded flights at major airports nationwide since Friday due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, as some have taken leave or found other employment due to unpaid work during the shutdown. On Sunday alone, more than 2,700 flights were canceled, and 10,200 were delayed, the largest single-day disruption to airline operations.

According to Thai News Agency, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy informed reporters yesterday that the travel situation is expected to worsen, particularly in the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, which falls on November 27 this year. Duffy confirmed that he would not lift an order for 40 major airports to reduce incoming and outgoing flights and threatened to double the number of flights affected if air traffic controllers did not report to work. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has instructed U.S. airlines to reduce daily flight capacity by 4 percent starting November 7, then 6 percent on November 11, and 10 percent on November 14. Duffy further mentioned that since the shutdown, more air traffic controllers have retired, and the FAA is short about 1,000 to 2,000 personnel.