A shortage of air traffic controllers prompted the Federal Aviation Authority to order a ground stop at LaGuardia Airport for arriving flights Friday — which it lifted about an hour later, but warned of ongoing delays.
Flights also were delayed at Newark, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, the FAA said.
“We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two air traffic control facilities affecting New York and Florida,” the agency said in a statement about the halt.
“As with severe storms, we will adjust operations to a safe rate to match available controller resources. We’ve mitigated the impact by augmenting staffing, rerouting traffic, and increasing spacing between aircraft as needed.”
The stop was ordered shortly before 10 a.m. as the partial government shutdown entered its 35th day. It was lifted about 45 minutes later.
One passenger affected by the delays at LaGuardia said he sympathized with any workers who are calling in sick while they’re not being paid due to the shutdown.
“I don’t disagree with people calling out during the shutdown,” said Alex Bingham, whose American Airlines flight to Richmond, Virginia, had been pushed back an hour.
“Why would you work without pay? I wouldn’t want to work without pay.”
The staffing problems are at air traffic centers in Jacksonville, Florida, and a DC center that controls high-altitude air traffic over seven states.
The FAA earlier reported an average of 41-minute delays for LaGuardia-bound flights and urged fliers to monitor air traffic at fly.faa.gov and check with individual airlines for more information.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that President Trump was briefed about the matter.
“We are monitoring the ongoing delays at some airports. We are in regular contact with officials at the Department of Transportation and the FAA,” she said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio told WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer: “I wish I could say I was shocked, Brian, but this is the cost of the shutdown.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the president on Twitter to “stop endangering the safety, security and well-being of our nation. Re-open government now!”
She added: “The #TrumpShutdown has already pushed hundreds of thousands of Americans to the breaking point. Now it’s pushing our airspace to the breaking point too.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote to Trump on Friday demanding that he reopen the government immediately because the shutdown is affecting safety and security at airports and putting travelers at risk.
His letter was announced shortly before the FAA revealed the actions it took.
The disruptions come a day after three major US airlines — American, Southwest and JetBlue — warned about the shutdown’s risk to the aviation system.
“No one can predict what impact it will have as it continues,” Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly said of the shutdown on Thursday.
JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said the situation was reaching a “tipping point.”
Air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants have also issued a warning about the safety of air passengers and called for the White House and Congress to find a solution.
“In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented,” the unions for all three groups said in a statement this week.
Controllers, TSA agents, air marshals and other law enforcement personnel have all been caught up in the impasse, leaving airports understaffed and raising concerns about the safety of the nation’s aviation system, they said in the joint statement.
