• The FAA has lifted all flight restrictions previously imposed at 40 major airports.
• Airlines can resume normal flight schedules starting Monday at 6 a.m. EST.
• Improved staffing at air traffic control facilities prompted the FAA's decision.
• Cancellations recently dropped to below 1%, easing travel disruptions.
• Air traffic controllers had been working without pay during the 43-day government shutdown.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced the lifting of all restrictions on commercial flights at 40 major airports, allowing airlines to resume their regular flight schedules starting Monday at 6 a.m. EST. This decision follows the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which began affecting operations on November 7 due to safety concerns stemming from staffing shortages in air traffic control facilities. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford made the announcement in a joint statement on Sunday.

The FAA initially imposed a 10% reduction in flight traffic, which heightened to 6% during the shutdown due to escalating staffing issues. However, improvements in staffing have allowed the agency to gradually reduce restrictions, finally bringing cuts down to 3% just before lifting them entirely. Major airports impacted included hubs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, according to sfgate, businessinsider, and indiatimes.

Recent analytics from Cirium indicated that cancellation rates fell to below 1% over the weekend following the FAA's announcement. Flight tracking site FlightAware reported only 149 flight cancellations on Sunday and 315 on Saturday, a significant improvement compared to earlier in the month when over 2,900 flights were canceled on November 9. This surge in cancellations was attributed to the FAA's order in response to staffing shortages and adverse weather conditions, according to latimes and npr.

Transportation Secretary Duffy noted that an agency safety team recommended rescinding the order following "detailed reviews of safety trends and the steady decline of staffing-trigger events," which significantly decreased from a high of 81 staffing incidents on November 8 to just one on Sunday. Despite this optimistic trend, Duffy mentioned that the FAA is currently assessing reports of non-compliance among carriers during the emergency order, implying potential enforcement actions, as detailed in reports by cbsnews and businessinsider.