The Federal Aviation Administration will lift its emergency flight reduction order on Monday and flights will resume normal operations, officials announced Sunday.
The emergency order will officially be lifted at 6 a.m. ET on Monday, ending cutbacks that have caused mass cancellations and delays at airports.
The cuts began Nov. 7 with a 4% reduction in flights at 40 major airports and are aimed at addressing air traffic controller fatigue and staffing issues during a record-long government shutdown.
The FAA said the cuts are now being made because staffing levels have “stabilized” with the end of the government shutdown on Wednesday.
The decision came at the beginning of the busy Thanksgiving travel period and was made due to a review of “safety trends” by the FAA and “a steady decline in events that trigger staffing at air traffic control facilities,” aviation officials said in a news release Sunday.
Only six staffing triggers were reported on Friday, eight on Saturday, and one on Sunday, a dramatic improvement from the record high of 81 staffing triggers on Nov. 8.
Other restrictions would also end, including certain visual flight rules approaches, restrictions on commercial space launches and parachute operations.
The FAA said it is aware of reports of “noncompliance by airlines” during the emergency order and is “reviewing and evaluating enforcement operations.” It is not clear what penalties will be imposed for failure to comply with the order.
The original emergency order would have expanded flight reductions by up to 10% by Friday. But on Wednesday, authorities froze the reduction at 6%, citing strong staffing levels and a sharp decline in air traffic controllers, and on Friday lowered the reduction further to 3%.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday that aviation officials can “refocus” on hiring more air traffic controllers and “building a state-of-the-art air traffic control system that the American people deserve.”
