BATON ROUGE - Thousands of flights across the country are being delayed as the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, began rolling back flight operations by 4% across 40 of the country's largest airports on Friday due to the government shutdown.

It's part of the FAA's plan to reduce operations by 10% at the 40 airports to maintain travel safety.

While Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is not on the list of 40 airports, the effects of the decrease in operations are still being felt there, with one of its flights to Atlanta being cancelled on Friday morning.

That was Delta flight 4683, scheduled to depart a little before 10:30 a.m.

"We did have one flight, one round-trip to Atlanta that was cancelled as part of that reduction. All five of our hub airports that serve Baton Rouge are on the list of the 40," BTR Director of Aviation Mike Edwards said.

Scott Bartgis was supposed to be a passenger on the flight. However, around 3 a.m. Friday morning, he received a notification from Delta.

"Yes, I'm one of the lucky people who was able to get a nice email from Delta saying your flights have been cancelled and we'll rebook you, but there's no guarantee that the rebooking will hold," Bartgis said.

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was just the first stop for Bartgis on his way to upstate New York.

"I was just looking at American Airlines to see if they had anything available. Nothing left. Delta's all full for all the earlier flights, so they've got me on something hopefully for 4:00," Bartgis said.

A second flight involving BTR was cancelled on Friday. It was American Airlines flight 5210, which was scheduled to leave Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., at 7:59 p.m. EST and arrive in Baton Rouge at 10:09 p.m. CST.

Reagan Washington National, along with Hartsfield-Jackson, is on the list of 40 airports.

BRT says that going forward, air travellers should check in regularly with their flight's airline regarding its status.

"We do anticipate seeing additional delays and most likely some cancellations, unfortunately. I think the majority of passengers will still be able to get where they need to go," Edwards said.

Even when the government shutdown ends, it won't immediately be smooth sailing for the airline industry.

"Once you flip the switch, it will take time to get things back to normal, so there will likely be a couple of days where they are kind of phasing back in any flights that were cancelled and getting things back to normal," Edwards said.