The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has extended a slot waiver for airports in the New York City area through Oct. 27, 2024, the agency announced Friday. 

The FAA in April initially offered the waiver—which allows carriers the flexibility to reduce their schedule by up to 10 percent and not lose their slots—for the summer season, then in August extended it to Oct. 28. The goal of the waiver was to reduce congestion attributed to staff shortages.

“The number of certified controllers at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (N90) is still not sufficient to allow the FAA to handle normal traffic levels,” FAA said in a statement. “The FAA continues working with NATCA on a long-term solution to solve the chronic low levels of fully certified air traffic controllers at N90.”

When the waiver was first announced in April, several carriers trimmed their New York schedules, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and United Airlines.

“We appreciate that the FAA and Department of Transportation moved quickly to address the operational realities we’re facing in the New York city area,” United wrote in a statement following Friday’s FAA announcement. “We’ve already trimmed our schedule by 10 percent—and our strategy of flying larger aircraft on these routes will keep the impact to customers to a minimum.”

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