Washington, Nov 17, (dpa/GNA) – The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Sunday, it would lift its emergency flight reduction order on Monday, allowing normal operations to resume and putting an end to days of disruption.
Normal schedules can resume from 6 am (1100 GMT) on Monday, according to a joint statement by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
The statement said the decision followed a recommendation from the FAA safety team, which reviewed safety trends and noted a “steady decline in staffing-trigger events in air traffic control facilities.”
The emergency order had been introduced during the government shutdown, the longest ever in US history, when air traffic control staffing fell sharply and flight disruption across the United States escalated.
The disruption stemmed from a budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, that had paralysed large parts of the federal government.
Much of the regular government operations were crippled, with many federal employees going unpaid, including air traffic controllers.
At the peak of the shutdown, hundreds of flights were cancelled daily.
The FAA had gradually scaled back flight operations at 40 major airports, first by 4% and later by 6%.
The agency reduced the restrictions to 3% on Friday, saying staffing levels had continued to improve since the 43-day shutdown ended on Wednesday.
Announcing the end of the reductions on Sunday, Duffy said controllers had now returned to work.
“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,” Duffy said.
GNA