Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Tim Brown/Getty Images)

The Federal Aviation Administration early Monday lifted an order that airlines cut domestic flights to 40 major U.S. airports, as air traffic control staffing levels improve following the six-week government shutdown. 

The move came just before the busiest travel week of the year, though it was unclear how long it would take for airlines to resume normal operations. 

The FAA’s safety team recommended ending the restrictions after seeing only one staffing trigger affect travel Sunday, according to an agency press release. There were 81 staffing triggers on Nov. 8, a few days before the end of the longest shutdown in U.S. history. 

“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,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in the release. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, controllers have returned to their posts and normal operations can resume.”

The government reopened after a 43-day shutdown on Nov. 12. 

Air traffic controllers were required to work without pay during the shutdown, leaving many to pursue second jobs and the workforce overstressed. The order to reduce flights, peaking at 6% at major airports, was meant to reduce that stress.

The banners at the tops of major U.S. airline websites warning of canceled flights disappeared by Monday morning.

One carrier, Southwest, replaced it with a message that its normal schedule would resume Monday. 

“Good news, the US government shutdown has ended,” the message read. “Our full schedule resumes on Nov 17. Book your next trip with confidence today.”

Canceled flights are displayed on an arrivals board at San Francisco International Airport on Nov. 7, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The first flights affected by a new Federal Aviation Administration directive led to widespread delays and cancellations Friday.

The FAA will ramp up to a 10% reduction in flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports by Nov. 14, starting with a 4% reduction Friday. 

More than 1,000 flights had been canceled by 5 p.m. Eastern  Friday, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com, compared with just more than 200 on Thursday. 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford announced the plan Wednesday. The reductions would help ease the strain on air traffic controllers, who have been working without pay during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1. 

Duffy said controllers were taking second jobs to make ends meet and were experiencing fatigue and stress, leading to safety concerns. 

Shutdown delays in D.C., Chicago, Atlanta and more

Seven airports on the list of 40 had ground delays Friday, with staffing shortages at 18 air traffic control towers triggering delays at others, according to an FAA advisory. 

Departures at Washington Reagan National Airport, just outside the nation’s capital in Northern Virginia, were averaging a four-hour delay Friday afternoon, according to FAA data. 

The airport led the nation with 73 cancellations Friday, according to FlightAware. Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, Denver International and Dallas/Fort Worth airports were also in the top five for cancellations.

Duffy visited Washington Reagan National earlier in the day to check in with travelers and brief reporters. He said he couldn’t give an exact figure on the number of affected flights, but said he hoped the reduction in flights would help controllers miss less work.

“I don’t want to see the disruption,” he said. “I don’t want to see the delays. Now, there could be a benefit if I can get the controllers to come back to work.”

Duffy recommended Friday that travelers continue to book flights now, rather than waiting for the shutdown to end. He said in an ABC News interview that waiting to book a flight could put fliers in the position of paying higher prices.

Regional carriers 

Nate Vallier, a partner at Alaska Travel Desk, a travel agency, said in a Friday press release the cancellations appeared to mostly hit smaller regional carriers. 

“We’re seeing a lot of randomness in the cancellations, as a way to spread the pain per se,”  Vallier said. “But the majority of canceled flights so far are with regional jets, such as those flown by SkyWest, Horizon, and American Eagle’s Envoy Divisions.” 

Alaska Beacon reporter James Brooks contributed to this report.

An Alaska Airlines jet lands at Newark Liberty International Airport. (Photo by Dana DiFilippo/New Jersey Monitor)

The Federal Aviation Administration reported no travel delays due to staffing levels at U.S. air traffic control facilities Wednesday, following a day of some delays related to above-average absences at a handful of facilities.

An FAA operational plan posted about noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, the eighth day of the federal government shutdown, showed no facilities impacted by “staffing triggers.” A day earlier, the same memo showed staffing levels affected operations at major hub airports in Phoenix and Denver, as well as a smaller airport in Burbank, California.

Air traffic controllers are essential to the functioning of the nation’s air transportation system and must continue to work during a shutdown, though they are not paid while it is ongoing.

The group has not yet missed a paycheck during the current lapse in federal funding. The first impact most federal employees will see on their pay will be Friday, when electronic funding transfers are made for the pay period from Sept. 24 to Oct. 7. 

Because Congress has not appropriated money beyond Sept. 30, they would only receive a partial paycheck. Future paychecks would not be allocated until the government reopens.

‘How am I going to pay my mortgage?’ 

The possibility of working without pay is stressful for air traffic controllers, possibly leading to worsening performance or motivating some to call in sick to work on-demand jobs such as driving for ridesharing services, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a Monday press conference in Newark, New Jersey.

“Now what they think about as they’re patrolling our airspace is, ‘How am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment? I have a couple kids at home, how do I put food on the table? I’m working six days a week, do I have to take a second job and drive Uber?’” Duffy said.

Duffy said there was a slight uptick in controllers calling in sick, but that it had not been widespread. 

Extensive “sick-outs” among air traffic controllers were a major factor in ending the last partial government shutdown, which occurred during President Donald Trump’s first presidency in 2018. 

“Absenteeism as a concern: We’ve had a few airports and we’re tracking it,” Duffy responded to a reporter who asked about the issue. “We don’t have one facility that has had long-term issues with sick leave, but that is concerning to me. And if someone has to take sick leave to drive Uber to make the difference … of course that’s concerning for us.”

Union chief calls for reopening government

Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said on a CBS Evening News interview Tuesday the union is not coordinating absenteeism and is encouraging members to stay on the job during the shutdown. Air traffic controllers are prohibited by law from striking or taking other actions to disrupt the air transportation system.

Daniels also called on Congress to reopen the government as soon as possible to ease the strain on the workforce.

“There is no concerted effort for air traffic controllers to go in and somehow impede this system,” Daniels said. “But what it shouldn’t be is waiting to see how long air traffic controllers can last.”