The FAA’s flight reduction emergency order was terminated on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, returning the National Airspace System to normal operations.
This ends more than a week of restrictions affecting both commercial and general aviation.
The FAA safety team recommended the termination of the order following a detailed reviews of safety trends and the steady decline of staffing-trigger events in air traffic control facilities during the government shutdown, according to FAA officials.
Staffing levels have continued to snap back into place since the end of the government shutdown. The positive trend line continued over the weekend, with six staffing triggers on Nov. 14, eight on Nov. 15, and only one staffing trigger on Nov. 16. That’s in contrast to a record high of 81 staffing triggers on Nov. 8, FAA officials said. The current data aligns with staffing conditions before the shutdown, officials added.
The emergency order called for a reduction in the number of airline flights, as well as:
- Limits on some general aviation operations at 12 airports
- Limits on some visual flight rule approaches at facilities with staffing triggers
- Limits on parachute operations and photo missions near facilities with staffing triggers.
“We will continue to ensure all operations, commercial and GA, are treated fairly and that our aviation system is not impacted by government shutdowns in the future,” said Aircraft Owners and President Association President and CEO Darren Pleasance. “We also look forward to continuing our work to support the hiring and training of additional air traffic controllers and modernizing our nation’s air traffic control system.”
I hope so! This past Sunday we were denied an IFR clearance. BHM controller informed us practice approaches were not being allowed even though we filed IFR. So my instrument students missed out on valuable actual IMC weather conditions.