Good news for travelers: on Monday, November 17th, the FAA lifted emergency flight limits at LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark airports. After more than a week or so of heavy delays and cancellations, it appears that operations will be back to normal, considering enough air traffic controller staff have returned to their positions.
Here’s hoping the good news will take us into the busy Thanksgiving travel days next week. (Fingers crossed!)
“Today’s decision to rescind the order reflects the steady decline in staffing concerns across the NAS and allows us to return to normal operations,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement on Sunday, November 16th.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy added, “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.”
According to the FAA, the following restrictions will come to an end:
- Limits on some general aviation operations at 12 airports
- Limits on some visual flight rule approaches at facilities with staffing triggers
- Limits on commercial space launches and reentries to the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time
- Limits on parachute operations and photo missions near facilities with staffing triggers
This is a developing story. Please stay tuned for updates.