Travel alert: FAA ends flight cutbacks in South Florida and other busy airports

Air travel across the U.S. and in South Florida should return to normal this week after the FAA ended an emergency order requiring flight reductions at 40 airports, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

The flight cutbacks were terminated as of 6 a.m. Monday, Nov. 17, according to a joint statement by Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford.

MIA was already getting back to normal on Sunday, with no cancellations. And on Saturday, FLL had two.

“This is a sign of return to normal operation,” aviation analytics firm Cirium, which released the figures, said in an email.

The federal government signed off on the changes on Sunday night. “This means normal operations can resume across the National Airspace System,” the FAA and DOT memo said.

The transportation leaders say they decided to end the flight cutbacks because more air traffic controllers are showing up to work.

“Staffing levels have continued to snap back into place since the end of the government shutdown,” the statement said. “The positive trend line continued over the weekend.”

The decision to return to normal flight levels at MIA, FLL and 38 other airports across the country comes a week before holiday travel gets into high gear.

During the 44-day federal government shutdown, which ended last week, air traffic controllers were required to continue working, but without pay. That increased their strain and absences.

As a result, the FAA issued an order calling for a reduction in domestic departures at the 40 airports across the country. In addition to MIA and FLL, Tampa and Orlando were also on the list among Florida airports.

The required cutbacks, which were the responsibility of each airline, were gradual, initially 4% beginning Nov. 7. If a deal to reopen the government hadn’t been approved, the percentage would have peaked at 10% on Nov. 14.

Now, airlines and airports can now prepare for the upcoming Thanksgiving travel period, which could bring its own type of delays and cancellations due to weather and operations.

According to AAA, nearly 300,000 Floridians are forecast to travel during the holiday period, Nov. 25-Dec. 1. The travel organization says Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami will be the top U.S. travel destinations.

This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 5:23 AM.