The FAA lifted flight restrictions on 40 major airports following the end of the government shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Sunday that the restrictions on commercial flights that affected 40 major airports, including hubs like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta were to be lifted Monday morning. This statement comes following the end of the longest recorded government on November 12, which lasted 43 days. Air traffic controllers were part of the government officials who had to work without pay over the last month, missing two paychecks. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy cited reports (not shared) of planes getting too close in the air, more runway incursions and pilot concerns about controller responses due to staffing shortages.
In light of these conditions, on November 7th the FAA was forced to issue an unprecedented order to limit air traffic, as the controllers were calling in sick because of stress or financial pressure, culminating in 81 staffing triggers on November 8th. Staffing shortages kept growing throughout the shutdown, affecting thousands of flights across the country. The situation reached its peak on November 9th when the shortages along with local weather allowed for more than 10000 flights to be delayed and 2900 to be cancelled.
Originally, flight cuts started at 4% and grew to 6% before the FAA rolled restrictions back to 3% on Friday, November 12, as a result of the government shutdown ending. However, cuts were way below this at less than 1% with only 315 flights being cancelled on Saturday and 149 on Sunday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Controllers began to return to work later that week amid news that Congress was close to ending the shutdown, allowing the FAA to pause plans for increasing cancellations as they had initially aimed to work toward cancelling 10% of flights.
Other restrictions include some visual flight rule approaches, limits on commercial space launches and parachute operations. In a joint statement made by the FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and Secretary Duffy they explained that an agency safety team recommended the order be rescinded after “detailed reviews of safety trends and the steady decline of staffing-trigger events in air traffic control facilities”. They also acknowledged the agency is “aware of reports of no compliance by carriers over the course of the emergency order. The agency is reviewing and assessing enforcement options”.
Airline leaders are optimistic that operations will rebound by the time Thanksgiving travel begins, as “The current data aligns with staffing conditions before the shutdown”. Both Bedford and Duffy expressed their gratitude for the controllers’ work during the shutdown and their role in keeping the American public safe.