Will air travel be back to normal before Thanksgiving?

By Joel Rose,

Sacha Pfeiffer

Published November 15, 2025 at 5:05 PM EST

The shutdown is over, but a 3% cut in flights remains as air traffic staffing slowly rebounds.

Joel Rose

Joel Rose is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk. He covers immigration and breaking news.

See stories by Joel Rose

Sacha Pfeiffer

Sacha Pfeiffer is a correspondent for NPR's Investigations team and an occasional guest host for some of NPR's national shows.

See stories by Sacha Pfeiffer

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