The worst of the flight disruptions amid a long government shutdown may be over.

On Wednesday, federal officials reversed course on their plan to mandate a 10% reduction in flight operations by Friday.

Instead, as the burden on air traffic controllers appeared to ease, officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration said they would freeze the plan at a 6% reduction as they “assess whether the system can gradually return to normal.”

“The FAA safety team is encouraged to see our air traffic control staffing surge, and they feel comfortable with pausing the reduction schedule to give us time to review the airspace,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

In an unprecedented move, the FAA last week ordered airlines to reduce op

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