The Washington administration intends to introduce restrictions on air transport at some of the US’s major airports starting from Friday and to allow space launches only at certain hours of the day, due to the federal government shutdown, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

He noted that the shutdown has caused a shortage of air traffic controllers and other technical specialists at airports across the country. According to Duffy, US authorities will take measures related to this for safety purposes. One of these will be a 10% reduction in air transport at 40 locations, he said. As he clarified, this specifically applies to major US airports. The list of these airports will be published soon.

The transportation secretary added that space launches in the US will be allowed only at certain hours of the day. Launches can seriously disrupt operations in airspace, Duffy explained. He did not provide further details.

According to the US transportation secretary, the new regulations will take effect Friday morning. How long they will remain in effect has not yet been specified. Also, Duffy considered the possibility of additional restrictions.