FAA lifts restrictions imposed at 40 major airports during government shutdown

Air travelers can begin breathing easier today.

On Sunday, the U.S. Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration announced in a joint statement that they were lifting all restrictions across 40 major U.S. airports that were imposed during the government shutdown.

Restrictions were lifted at 6 a.m. ET on Monday, according to the statement by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.

“This means normal operations can resume across the National Airspace System,” the statement read.

Just in time for the busy holiday season.

The flight restrictions were implemented on Nov. 7 to offset staffing issues during the 43-day government shutdown, which officially ended with President Donald Trump’s signature on Nov. 12, according to The Associated Press.

Air traffic controllers were still required to work during the shutdown but were not paid, missing two paychecks. Controllers were calling off work because of stress or needing to have a second job to make ends meet, while they were not being paid.

The flight cuts started at 4% and later grew to 6%, and eventually were supposed to increase to 10% by Nov. 14. However, on that day, the FAA rolled the restrictions back to 3%.

“I want to thank the FAA’s dedicated safety team for keeping our skies secure during the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history and the country’s patience for putting safety first. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, controllers have returned to their posts and normal operations can resume,”Duffy said in the statement. “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.”

Bedford said the decision to lift the restrictions “reflects the steady decline in staffing concerns across the NAS and allows us to return to normal operations.”

“I am grateful for the hard work of the FAA safety and operations teams and for their focus on the safety of the traveling public,” he said.

The number of flights canceled this weekend was at its lowest point since the restrictions began. According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, 149 flights were canceled Sunday and 315 were cut on Saturday.

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