On Sunday night, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it will end flight restrictions due to the Schumer Shutdown, allowing all commercial airlines to resume regular schedules.
The restrictions end at 6 AM on Monday morning.
“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,” said Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “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.”
The shutdown caused chaos for the industry due to staffing shortages. Duffy ordered airlines to reduce their flights, especially at large airports.
The FAA said staffing levels have continued to decline since the shutdown concluded last week.
“Today’s decision to rescind the order reflects the steady decline in staffing concerns across the NAS and allows us to return to normal operations,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “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.”
As of Sunday, the FAA had “one staffing trigger.” It had a record high of 81 on November 8.
The day after, November 9, was the worst day for air travel during the Schumer shutdown.
People faced 22,616 delays and 2,708 cancellations.
The FAA also lifted these restrictions:
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