00:00The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its mandated cuts to domestic flights on Monday.
00:06The move eases restrictions that were put in place during the government shutdown, which ended last week.
00:12The FAA had imposed the flight reductions to cope with fatigue and staffing shortages among air traffic controllers,
00:18many of whom had already been working mandatory overtime in six-day weeks even before the shutdown began.
00:24Air traffic controller absences had led to tens of thousands of flight cancellations and delays, disrupting travel nationwide.
00:33Despite ending the mandated flight cuts, the FAA is still about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of its targeted staffing levels.
00:41Meanwhile, air traffic controllers and other FAA employees have started receiving back pay equal to about 70% of what they are owed,
00:50as the agency works to recover from the shutdown's impact.
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