WASHINGTON — One week after the Federal Aviation Administration began implementing flight restrictions at 40 high-traffic airports around the country, the agency said Friday that the required reductions will decrease. Effective Saturday at 6 a.m. EST, mandatory flight restrictions will decrease from their current level of 6% to 3%.
What You Need To Know
One week after the Federal Aviation Administration began implementing flight restrictions at 40 high-traffic airports around the country, the agency said Friday that the required reductions will decrease
Effective Saturday at 6 a.m. ET, mandatory flight restrictions will decrease from their current level of 6% to 3%
In a statement, the FAA said they were following the recommendation of its safety and operations team, which has noticed improvement in air traffic controller staffing since the government shutdown ended
The 3% flight reduction will stay in place as the FAA monitors the national airspace over the weekend and determines if normal operations can resume
In a statement, the FAA said it is following the recommendation of its safety and operations team, which has noticed improvements in air traffic controller staffing since the government shutdown ended Wednesday night.
About 13,000 air traffic controllers were required to work without pay during the 43-day shutdown, prompting many to call in sick or take second jobs.
In a post on X, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the controllers received 70% of their paychecks Friday.
“We’re working to process the rest of their back pay quickly,” he said.
The FAA said it has seen a rapid decline in staffing-triggered flight disruptions since its peak on Nov. 8, when there were 81. Staffing triggers fell to 11 Tuesday, following the Senate’s Monday night vote on a bill to reopen the government, and were at 13 Wednesday, as the House prepared to vote on the bill.
After President Donald Trump signed legislation to fund and reopen the government, staff triggers fell to four Thursday and to three Friday.
A week ago, the FAA began implementing an emergency order to reduce flights at the nation’s busiest airports to alleviate air traffic controller stress. From Friday through Sunday last weekend, 25,754 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed and 5,545 were canceled, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.
As of 5 p.m. EST Friday, 2,478 flights within, into or out of the U.S. had been delayed and 1,107 had been canceled, FlightAware said.
The 3% flight reduction will stay in place as the FAA monitors the national airspace over the weekend and determines if normal operations can resume.