The Federal Aviation Administration has ended its flight-reduction emergency order, allowing air travel to resume normal operations.
The emergency order was officially lifted Monday at 6 a.m. ET, ending the reductions that caused mass cancellations and delays at airports.
The cuts, which started with a 4% reduction in flights at 40 major airports on Nov. 7, were designed to address fatigue and staffing issues among air traffic controllers amid the record-long government shutdown.
It’s being rolled back now that staffing levels have “stabilized” with the end of the government shutdown Wednesday, the FAA said.
The decision, which comes at the beginning of the busy Thanksgiving travel period, was made following an FAA review of “safety trends” and because of “the steady decline of staffing-trigger events in air traffic control facilities,” aviation officials said in a news release Sunday.
Just six staffing triggers reported Friday, eight Saturday and one Sunday — dramatic improvements from the record high of 81 staffing triggers on Nov. 8.
Other restrictions, including some visual flight rule approaches, limits on commercial space launches and parachute operations, will also end.
The FAA noted that it was aware of reports of “non-compliance by carriers” during the emergency order, and is “reviewing and assessing enforcement operations.” It’s not clear what penalties will be for defying the orders.
Under the original emergency order, flight reductions were set to ramp up to 10% by Friday. However, on Wednesday, officials froze flight reductions at 6% due to strong staffing levels and the rapid decline in air traffic controller call-outs, and then further reduced them to 3% on Friday.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday that aviation officials can now “refocus” efforts on hiring more air traffic controllers and on “building the brand new, state of the art air traffic control system the American people deserve.”
