FAA reduces mandatory flight cuts as US shutdown ends

As the United States begins recovering from the recent government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has eased its earlier order asking airlines to cut their flight schedules. The FAA announced that from November 15, airlines will only need to cancel 3% of their flights, instead of the 6% required earlier.

This decision comes as staffing levels of air traffic controllers have started improving after the 43-day government shutdown ended on Wednesday night.

On November 7, the FAA had ordered airlines to reduce flights at 40 busy airports. The agency said that many air traffic controllers were absent, raising safety concerns. Controllers were among the federal employees who had to work without pay during the shutdown, leading to higher absence rates.

As a result, thousands of flights were cancelled. Last Sunday alone, nearly 3,000 flights—around 10% of the entire day’s schedule were cancelled due to a combination of the FAA’s order, controller shortages and bad weather.

The FAA and the US Department of Transportation said that more controllers started returning to work after signs of progress in Congress toward ending the shutdown. This allowed the FAA to reduce the cancellation requirement.

Before Friday’s announcement, airlines had already sensed that the situation was getting better. Flight-tracking platform FlightAware reported only 159 cancellations planned for Saturday. United Airlines, which had been pre-announcing cancellations for days, stopped listing cuts beyond Friday.

According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, several safety risks increased during the shutdown, including aircraft flying too close to each other, more runway incursions and pilots reporting slow or unclear responses from controllers

Because of these issues, the FAA initially targeted flight cuts of up to 10%, though the highest it reached was 6%. From November 7 to November 15, over 11,800 flights were cancelled under the order.

Although the shutdown has ended and staffing is improving, experts say the US aviation system could take several days or possibly longer to fully stabilise. Many aircraft are still not in their correct locations, and airlines need to rearrange their schedules.

Airlines for America, the major US airline trade group, said there may still be “residual effects” for some time.

Despite the uncertainty, airline executives remain optimistic. With the busy Thanksgiving travel period coming up, carriers hope to restore normal operations soon after the FAA fully lifts the flight cut order.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said on CBS that the system will return to normal “a lot faster than people think,” assuring passengers that safety and reliability remain top priorities.

The shutdown also highlighted a major ongoing problem of nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers. The pressure of working unpaid worsened the situation, leading to more retirements. By the end of the shutdown, 15 to 20 controllers were retiring each day, and some younger controllers were leaving the profession entirely.