U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford announced that the FAA will end its flight reduction emergency order 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, which conducted detailed reviews of safety trends and noted a steady decline in staffing-trigger events at air traffic control facilities.
“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.”
Bryan Bedford, Administrator
| U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
“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.”
Since the end of what was described as "the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history," staffing levels have improved steadily. The number of staffing triggers decreased from a high of 81 on November 8 to just one by Sunday, November 16, returning conditions close to those before the shutdown.
With this change, several restrictions will be lifted:
- Limits on some general aviation operations at 12 airports
- Restrictions on certain visual flight rule approaches at facilities with staffing triggers
- Constraints on commercial space launches and reentries limited previously between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
- Restrictions affecting parachute operations and photo missions near affected facilities
The FAA also acknowledged reports that some carriers may not have complied with rules during this period; it is currently reviewing these incidents for possible enforcement actions.
