FAA has lifted emergency flight reductions used to ease staffing pressure during government shutdown

The Federal Aviation Administration has ended its flight-reduction emergency order, allowing air travel to resume normal operations.

The Federal Aviation Administration has ended its flight-reduction emergency order, allowing air travel to resume normal operations.

The emergency order was officially lifted Monday at 6 a.m. ET, ending the reductions that caused mass cancellations and delays at airports.

The cuts, which started with a 4% reduction in flights at 40 major airports on Nov. 7, were designed to address fatigue and staffing issues among air traffic controllers amid the record-long government shutdown.

It’s being rolled back now that staffing levels have “stabilized” with the end of the government shutdown Wednesday, the FAA said.

The decision, which comes at the beginning of the busy Thanksgiving travel period, was made following an FAA review of "safety trends" and because of "the steady decline of staffing-trigger events in air traffic control facilities," aviation officials said in a news release Sunday.