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FAA Ends Furlough Program, Returns To Normal Staffing Sunday

Less than a week after mandatory furloughs began that idled as much as 10 percent of U.S. air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration has ended its furlough program. The move comes after Congress voted to let the FAA move money around in its budget — a quick response that came after several days of travel delays that were either caused by or worsened by the furloughs.

In a statement released Saturday, the FAA said that it is suspending furloughs for all its employees.

"Air traffic facilities will begin to return to regular staffing levels over the next 24 hours and the system will resume normal operations by Sunday evening," according to the agency.

The agency is taking action despite the fact that the legislation has not yet been signed by President Obama. As ABC News reports, a typo — a missing "s" to be exact — exists in the Senate version of the bill, but not the House version. The Senate is expected to correct the error Tuesday.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.