FAA will lift emergency flight reductions Monday

The Federal Aviation Administration will end its flight reduction emergency order on Monday, meaning flights will resume operations as normal, officials announced Sunday.

The emergency order will officially lift Monday at 6 a.m. ET, bringing an end to 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 to lift the order was made following an FAA review of “safety trends” and due to “the steady decline of staffing-trigger events in air traffic control facilities,” aviation officials said in a news release Sunday.

On Friday there were just six staffing triggers reported, eight on Saturday and one on Sunday — a dramatic improvement from the record high of 81 staffing triggers recorded on Nov. 8.

Other restrictions that were in place, including some visual flight rule approaches, limits on commercial space launches, and parachute operations will also end.

Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said now aviation officials can “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.”