Washington DC - Air travel in the US could soon "slow to a trickle," authorities warned Sunday as thousands more flights were cancelled or delayed and passengers face chaos triggered by the government shutdown.

The Trump administration has ordered flights to be reduced at 40 airports to ease the strain on air traffic controllers working without pay as federal agencies have been grinding to a halt since funding lapsed on October 1.

Many government employees, including vital airport staff, are either on duty unpaid or furloughed at home, waiting for the high-stakes political standoff between Republicans and Democrats to end.

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"You're going to have air travel slow to a trickle as everyone wants to travel to see their families," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News Sunday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in two weeks.

"We're going to see air traffic controllers, very few of them coming to work, which means you'll have a few flights taking off and landing... You're going to have massive disruption [and] a lot of angry Americans."

Duffy told CNN's State of the Union show that "it's only going to get worse" as people try to fly to see family over the holidays.

"Many of them are not going to be able to get on an airplane, because there are not going to be that many flights that fly if this thing doesn't open back up," Duffy said.