The Federal Aviation Administration announced that all flight cuts previously implemented during the government shutdown will end on Monday at 6 a.m. Eastern time.
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended early last week, though thousands of flights were either canceled or delayed days afterward as airports still faced staffing shortages.
In a press release on Sunday night, however, the FAA said after a “steady decline in staffing concerns,” normal operations would resume at airports across the United States.
The agency reported only 15 staffing triggers over the weekend, compared to 81 on Nov. 8. These are periods where an air traffic control tower is understaffed and could affect safety.
The end to the cuts is welcome news to travelers ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, one of the busiest times to fly.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy previously predicted that flight delays and cancellations would “live on … well beyond” when the government reopened, citing a shortage of air traffic controllers.
DEMOCRATS RECKON WITH LOFTY OBAMACARE PROMISES AFTER SHUTDOWN DEFEAT
But in a statement on Sunday, he credited President Donald Trump for getting them back to work, particularly after he offered a $10,000 bonus to controllers who worked through the 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. 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,” Duffy said.
