U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford announced that the FAA’s emergency order reducing flights will end on Monday, November 17 at 6 a.m., allowing normal operations to resume across the National Airspace System.
The decision follows recommendations from the FAA safety team, who reviewed safety trends and noted a consistent decline in staffing-related events at air traffic control facilities. The agency cited improved staffing levels since the conclusion of the government shutdown.
“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.”
“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.”
Data from recent days show that staffing triggers have dropped significantly—from a high of 81 on November 8 down to just one on Sunday, November 16—matching pre-shutdown conditions.
With this change, several restrictions will be lifted: limits on certain general aviation activities at 12 airports; restrictions on some visual flight rule approaches at facilities affected by staffing shortages; constraints on commercial space launches and reentries during specific nighttime hours; as well as limits on parachute operations and photo missions near impacted facilities.
The FAA also stated it is aware of reports regarding carrier non-compliance with rules during the emergency order period and is currently reviewing enforcement options.
