Are the Shutdown-Era Flight Disruptions Over?

While hundreds of travelers experienced flight disruptions on Tuesday, aviation experts say that the disruptions that began mounting during the government shutdown have come to an end.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday lifted all the restrictions it imposed on flights during the shutdown after staffing shortages at airports raised safety concerns, saying that normal operations can resume now that the shutdown has ended.

On Sunday, the FAA and U.S. Department of Transportation announced that all restrictions would end as of Monday morning. The government said that staffing levels have continued to rise since the shutdown ended on Wednesday.

“Today’s decision to rescind the order reflects the steady decline in staffing concerns across the [National Airspace System] and allows us to return to normal operations,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a press release.

The FAA had already eased the cuts somewhat over the weekend. A number of flights were still being impacted by delays on Monday and Tuesday. But Sheldon Jacobson, an aviation security and safety expert and professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, says that these disruptions are normal.

“You have to put things in perspective of what is typical,” Jacobson says. “There’s nothing unusual—in fact, we’re seeing better than average days right now.”

Here’s what to know about how the shutdown impacted air travel in the U.S., and what the state of the disruptions is now.

How was air travel affected by the government shutdown?

The shutdown led to disruptions in air travel across the country amid staffing shortages, as air traffic controllers and other federal employees went unpaid for weeks. Thousands of flights traveling through the U.S. began suffering delays or cancellations each day. 

Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a 10% reduction in flights at 40 major airports because of safety concerns.

Duffy warned at the time that more restrictions could follow. But as the deal to end the shutdown—the longest in U.S. history—moved toward its final passage last week, the Department of Transportation announced that flight reductions wouldn’t increase as much as planned, saying that more controllers were showing up for work.

Is air travel back to normal?

After the shutdown ended, aviation experts warned that it could take a few weeks for air travel in the U.S. to totally return to normal. But airlines said that they believed normal operations would resume in time for the long Thanksgiving weekend.

As of Monday evening, the number of flight disruptions was still in the thousands, though it was down from its peak during the shutdown; there were 79 cancellations and more than 3,600 delays within, into, or out of the U.S., according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware. In comparison, some days prior to the government reopening saw more than 5,000 flights be impacted by disruptions. On Tuesday, those numbers appeared to be continuing to fall: as of the early afternoon, there were 18 cancellations and just under 1,400 delays.

Jacobson says the numbers show that the air traffic system has bounced back.

“In an average day in the United States, you have around 25,000 commercial flights. Of those 25,000 commercial flights, around 20 to 25% of them are going to be delayed, which is around 5,000, 6,000 flights. That’s a normal day,” he says. About 1-1.5% of flights are canceled, he adds; that comes out to between 250-375 flights. So the numbers from this week are “amazingly placid,” all things considered, Jacobson says.

He says, though, that “nothing’s changed” in terms of the technology used by air traffic controllers and other infrastructure issues. He stresses the need for officials to make changes to the air traffic system.

“The system is getting back to what is normal, but normal isn’t necessarily good—it just means it’s normal,” he says.

What if my flight is still delayed or canceled?

Be sure to keep checking the status of your flight, both before you leave for the airport and while you’re waiting to board your plane once there.

If your flight is canceled, you should contact your airline’s customer service line. You can call their customer service line, visit their website, or go to their in-person help desk at the airport. Your airline will rebook you on another flight, free of charge.

Contact us at letters@time.com.