FAA Lifts All Remaining Flight Cuts Imposed During Shutdown

US airlines will be able to resume normal operations starting Monday after more than a week of government-mandated flight reductions. 

The US Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration announced late Sunday that they would lift cuts across 40 major US airports that were imposed during the government shutdown from 6 a.m. Monday. On Friday, they had reduced the share of canceled domestic flights to 3% from 6%.

The cuts first went into effect on Nov. 7 at a rate of 4% and were supposed to slowly increase to 10% by Nov. 14. However, the government froze the rate at 6% Wednesday, shortly before President Donald Trump signed legislation to end the longest federal closure in US history. 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford have said reducing flight capacity was necessary to ease strain on air traffic controllers, who were working without pay during the shutdown. They said the FAA assessed safety data, including reports from pilots on controller responsiveness, when making the decision, but haven’t publicly offered specific findings or numbers, despite some airline executives and lawmakers seeking that information.