WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday said it had activated 169 more direct routes along the U.S. East Coast ahead of the busy summer travel season.

The direct routes will shave off 40,000 miles and 6,000 minutes of travel time annually, the FAA said.

The new routes operate largely above 18,000 feet in altitude along the East Coast as well as offshore over the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

The FAA has sunset legacy routes when aircraft largely relied on ground-based radar instead of GPS.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter)