The Trump administration on Friday announced it has reduced flight reductions at 40 major national airports from 6% to 3%, effective at 6 a.m. Saturday.
The restrictions were implemented last week because of staffing shortages from the government shutdown. Many air traffic controllers were not coming to work, citing stress and the need to take on second jobs.
Controllers, who missed two paychecks during the impasse, were among thousands of federal employees who worked without pay through the shutdown.
The restrictions began at 4% and increased to 6% on Tuesday. Had the shutdown continued, they were expected to ultimately reach 10%.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Newsmax on Wednesday that the nation’s air travel system should be fully recovered in about a week — in time for the Thanksgiving rush.
The reductions followed a recommendation from the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety and operations team, the agency said in a news release.
The decision reflects improvement in air traffic controller staffing levels and a continued decline in staffing-trigger events across the National Airspace System. The FAA uses staffing triggers to indicate when controller levels at a site fall below planned minimums.
“The 3% reduction will remain in place while the FAA monitors system performance throughout the weekend and evaluates whether normal operations can resume,” the FAA said.
The agency noted a steady decline in staffing triggers since a record 81 on Nov. 8. It said there were 11 on Tuesday, 13 on Wednesday, four on Thursday, and three on Friday.
“Yesterday was one of the best days our airspace had in a while with just a few air traffic controllers calling out from work,” Duffy wrote Friday on X. “We’re reviewing the data provided and are working hard to return the airspace back to normal.”
The FAA said some restrictions will remain in place regarding general aviation operations at 12 airports; certain visual flight-rule approaches at facilities with staffing triggers; commercial space launches and reentries, which will be permitted only between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time; and parachute operations and photo missions near airports experiencing a staffing trigger.
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