The outlook for air travel continues to improve.
Late Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it would reduce the number of flights airlines have to cancel at the nation’s busiest hubs.
Starting Saturday morning, airlines will only have to cut 3% of flights at 40 major airports across the country.
To be clear, this could still mean hundreds of flight cancellations per day this weekend.
But that’s a big improvement from Friday, when airlines were supposed to cancel 6% of flights and the 10% they will have to cut if the shutdown doesn’t end.
During the final week of the shutdown, the FAA implemented mandatory flight cancellations to relieve the burden on air traffic control facilities, which faced staffing shortages as controllers went without pay for weeks.
But staffing and flight numbers have improved significantly this week, especially as the government officially reopens Wednesday night.
The FAA reported only four so-called “staffing triggers” at air traffic facilities on Thursday, the FAA said. On Saturday, a total of 81 people died in massive chaos at the airport.
The Trump administration said it would monitor staffing and flight performance over the weekend before potentially allowing airlines to resume their full flight schedules next week.
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It’s an encouraging sign with just a week left before the unofficial start of the Thanksgiving travel rush, which airlines expect will break records.
Read more: Government reopening: Can air travel resume in time for Thanksgiving?
We should point out: While airlines are technically supposed to be cutting 6% of flights at 40 major airports on Friday, FlightAware data shows the cancellation rate is actually much lower.
According to FlightAware, airlines have canceled about 2% to 3% of flights at major hub airports such as Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).
Friday’s flight delays were a fraction of last weekend’s.
Most airlines continue to offer flexible travel exemptions while the FAA restrictions are in place. Airlines may return to more normal airfare policies once restrictions end.
Airlines appear to be expecting the FAA to loosen its restrictions slightly. As of 5:30 p.m. ET, airlines had canceled only about 160 flights for Saturday, FlightAware reported.
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