The Federal Aviation Administration froze flight reductions that were initially set to increase on Thursday, as the number of canceled flights in the United States has steadily decreased this week.

The FAA issued an emergency order on Wednesday evening freezing the flight reductions at its current level of 6%.

Under a prior order, airlines had been required to reduce operations at 40 “high-impact airports” by 8% by Thursday and by 10% by Friday. The new order means those reductions will no longer increase.

The Department of Transportation said the decision was taken after seeing a “rapid decline in controller callouts.”

“Such strong staffing levels suggest a further ramp up in-flight reductions are not necessary to keep the traveling public safe,” the DOT said in a press release. “As the federal government reopens and controllers receive their backpay, the FAA will continue to monitor staffing levels and review key trend lines.”

The 6% flight reductions will remain in place “as the FAA continues to assess the situation and determines when airlines and systems can safely and gradually return to normal operations,” the DOT said.

The order comes after more than 900 flights were canceled Wednesday in the U.S. as of approximately 8 p.m. ET, with departures from the busy hubs of Chicago, Denver and Atlanta leading the list of the most cancellations, according to FlightAware. 

More than 2,200 flights had been delayed as of about 8 p.m. ET.

Wednesday’s flight cancellations appeared set to continue a dayslong streak of headaches at American airports, which were operating under duress amid a federal government shutdown.

The cancellations and delays have slowly crept down throughout the week, however, as Congress appeared ready to end the shutdown.

More than 1,200 flights in the U.S. were canceled on Tuesday, while Monday saw more than 2,400 canceled. Winter weather that caused headaches in the Midwest and East on Monday and Tuesday was also no longer a factor for airports on Wednesday.

Many federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration staffers, were working without pay as the partisan impasse dragged on in Washington.  

And while things have improved, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned the cancellations could cause major issues this weekend if the shutdown does not come to an end.

“If the government doesn’t open, it’s going to radically slow down,” Duffy said during a press conference on Tuesday. “If this doesn’t open, you might have airlines that say, ‘We’re going to ground our planes.’ That’s how serious this is.”

The House of Representatives was set to vote on the bill Wednesday night. If it passes, it will head to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed.

Airlines have not received any guidance on whether flight reductions will be adjusted once the shutdown ends, according to Chris Sununu, the president and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade association representing U.S. carriers.

Once the government shutdown ends, it will take about a week before air travel operations return to normal, Sununu said. If the shutdown ends this week, smooth travel is expected over the Thanksgiving holiday, he said.

“There’s still plenty of time to make sure that everything over the Thanksgiving week goes off as originally planned,” Sununu said during a press conference on Wednesday.

ABC News’ Ayesha Ali contributed to this report.

A week into the government shutdown, flight delays and cancellations are starting to climb as sick calls involving air traffic controllers leave a number of airport towers and control facilities without enough staff to properly handle all flights.

The air traffic control tower overseeing airspace over Nashville International Airport was operating at an extremely limited amount of staffing on Tuesday, forcing some approach traffic to be handled by the air traffic control center in Memphis, Tennessee.

Flights in and out of Nashville were operating with an average delay of more than 2 hours on Tuesday evening. 

Dallas and Chicago were two other areas seeing delays Tuesday due to staffing shortages.

Flight delays in Dallas are averaging around 30 minutes and Chicago delays are averaging 40 minutes, according to FAA advisories.

Controllers are considered essential workers and are exempt from being furloughed during a government shutdown. An estimated 13,294 controllers will continue to work without pay during the shutdown, according to the Department of Transportation’s shutdown plan.

Not a new problem but shutdown ‘absolutely doesn’t help’

Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union that represents air traffic controllers, told ABC News that staffing shortages are not necessarily a new problem but that they’re drawing more attention now because, “We’re hyper-focused on it.” 

He added, “It’s a shutdown. You’re finally seeing the issues of a critically staffed air traffic control system. In the last nine months, there have been 1,058 occurrences where one of our facilities has had to shut down, either temporarily for a few hours or for a shift. It’s something that air traffic controllers contend with daily. The shutdown absolutely doesn’t help it, but this is something that we deal with day in and day out.” 

While ATC staffing is at critical levels across the country, it’s rare for it to have impacts on flights due to staffing shortages in places like Arizona or California, according to FAA documents reviewed by ABC News.

Earlier impacts in California

On Monday, California’s Burbank Airport was forced to close its tower for several hours because it had no air traffic controllers, according to FAA documents. 

The airport remained open but flights were delayed on average more than 2.5 hours. Controllers from a San Diego facility handled traffic into and out of Burbank during the tower closure.

Several other ATC facilities also experienced staffing issues on Monday. The Philadelphia TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control), Denver Center, Detroit TRACON, Indianapolis Center, Phoenix Airport, and the Phoenix TRACON also had staffing advisories from the Federal Aviation Administration. More than 600 flights Monday were delayed in and out of the Denver Airport and over 200 at Phoenix Airport. 

“There have been increased staffing shortages across the system. When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations,” the agency said in a statement to ABC News.

NATCA, the air traffic controllers union, said earlier this week it was working with the FAA to mitigate any disruptions in the national airspace. 

“It is normal for a few air traffic controllers to call in sick on any given day, and this is the latest example of how fragile our aviation system is in the midst of a national shortage of these critical safety professionals,” NATCA said in an earlier statement to ABC News.

Financial worry for air traffic controllers 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference on Monday that sick calls from controllers have been spread out across the region and not from one specific airport or ATC facility, but acknowledged that staffing levels at certain facilities are down as much as 50 percent.

“We don’t have one facility that has had long-term issues with the sick leave. But that is concerning to me. And if someone has to take sick leave, to drive Uber to make the difference, those are decisions they’re going to make themselves. But of course, that’s concerning for us,” Duffy said.

“These are high-skilled, high-performing, safety-driven professionals that I don’t want them driving for work,” Duffy added. “I don’t want them finding a second job to pay the bills. I want them to get paid for the work they’re doing today, keeping our planes in the air and our skies safe.” 

Duffy met with controllers handling Newark’s airspace Monday and said they expressed concerns over the added financial stress of the shutdown in an already demanding job. 

“The consistent message from these controllers was they’re not just now thinking about the airspace and the jobs they have to do in these towers or TRACON centers across the country. They’re thinking about, ‘Am I going to get a paycheck?'” Duffy said. “So now what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace is, ‘How am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment? I have a couple kids at home, how do I put food in the table? I’m working six days a week — do I have to take a second job and drive Uber when I’m already exhausted from doing a job that’s already stressful to think about.'”

Air traffic controllers will receive a partial paycheck on Oct. 14 but will not be paid on Oct. 28 if the shutdown continues, according to NATCA. Under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA), controllers will receive back pay after the shutdown ends. 

The staffing crisis also led to some heated political exchanges on social media. California Governor Newsom posted on X, saying, “Thanks, @realDonaldTrump! Burbank Airport has ZERO air traffic controllers from 4:15pm to 10pm today because of YOUR government shutdown.” 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy fired back at Newsom, posting, “News Flash! Your Democrat friends shut down the government because they want to make Americans pay the health care for illegals. And no state has more illegals than California! You care more about illegals than our hard-working American air traffic controllers. If you’re looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror — we all know it’s your favorite thing to do.”

Program that provides subsidies for rural travel also impacted

Another aspect of air travel impacted by the shutdown, which is on the verge of running out of funding, is the Essential Air Service (EAS) program.

Duffy said the EAS program, which provides airlines with subsidies to fly to rural areas that otherwise wouldn’t have air service because the route wouldn’t be profitable, will run out of funding on Sunday, Oct. 12. 

“Air carriers that continue to operate EAS flights beyond October 12, 2025, would do so at their own risk as the Department may not be able to pay the contracted subsidy,” the DOT said in a notice. The notice also says that if carriers continue to operate during the funding lapse, they could be reimbursed on a “pro rata basis,” meaning they might not receive the full amount owed. 

The biggest impacts would be felt in Alaska, where air travel is the primary mode of transportation. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowskiposted on X, saying, “The critical assistance these routes provide makes a disruption on any scale detrimental to these communities, and the local air carriers serving them.”

Murkowski said she is working with the administration to find a solution.