Nov. 16 (UPI) — Emergency flight reductions ordered at 40 major U.S. airports by the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this month will be lifted Monday morning, federal officials announced Sunday.
The flight reduction emergency order will be terminated at 6 a.m. Monday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a joint statement.
Since Nov. 7, the FAA has been enforcing an ordered 10% reduction in flights at 40 U.S. airports due to staffing shortages at air-traffic control facilities that were being exacerbated by the government shutdown, which began Oct. 1.
Amid the shutdown, millions of passengers were affected by the thousands of canceled and delayed flights, and officials warned the disruption could get worse heading into the upcoming holiday season if Congress failed to act on passing a government funding bill in time.
That bill was passed last week, and the government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — ended Nov. 12.
According to the FAA, since the resumption of normal government operations, staffing levels at air-traffic controller facilities have continued to “snap back,” with this weekend seeing five staffing triggers Friday, eight on Saturday and only one on Sunday compared to a high of 81 on Nov. 8.
“Now we can refocus our efforts on surging controller hiring and building the brand-new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system the American people deserve,” Duffy said.