More than 1,530 flights were cancelled in the United States, while thousands more were delayed on Saturday after authorities ordered airports to reduce air traffic because of the ongoing government shutdown.According to figures published by the flight tracking website, FlightAware, the cancellations on Saturday marked an uptick from the 1,025 cancellations the day before.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe trend is set to continue into Sunday, with another 1,000 cancellations already reported on the website.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said there were air traffic control staffing issues affecting 42 airport towers and other centres and delaying flights in at least 12 major US cities, including Atlanta, Newark, San Francisco, Chicago and New York.Flights crossing six different high-traffic areas were also facing delays.According to FlightAware, some 6,000 flights were delayed on Saturday while 7,000 were delayed on Friday.The FAA had instructed airlines to cut 4 percent of daily flights starting on Friday at 40 major airports because of air traffic control safety concerns.The shutdown, which has reached a record 39 days, has led to shortages of air traffic controllers who, like other federal employees, have not been paid for weeks.Reductions in flights are mandated to rise to 6 percent on Tuesday and hit 10 percent by November 14.The air traffic absences prompted the FAA to impose ground delay programmes at nine airp ...