Flights into LaGuardia Airport in New York, one of the busiest airports in the US, are being halted because there aren’t enough air traffic controllers to land them safely. The Federal Aviation Administration made the call to halt incoming flights on Friday, as reported by Bloomberg and CNBC. According to Ethan Klapper of Yahoo News, the FAA has instituted a “ground stop” — flights currently in the air are still set to land at LaGuardia, but LaGuardia-bound flights that have not taken off yet have been delayed. As of 11 am, flights arriving at LaGuardia Airport are delayed an average of one hour and 26 minutes, and flights arriving at Newark Airport are delayed an average of one hour and one minute, according to the FAA. Departures from Newark to LaGuardia are experiencing an average delay of one hour and 26 minutes, and general departures to other cities are experiencing delays between one hour and one minute and one hour and 15 minutes. According to Bloomberg, Delta says it is experiencing 200 flight delays at LaGuardia Airport. The FAA issued a statement confirming that because of a “slight increase in sick leave in two facilities,” it was “rerouting traffic, and increasing spacing between traffic when needed.” It is also delaying some traffic into airports in Newark and Philadelphia, according to CNN. It’s the first time the partial government shutdown, which has now lasted five weeks, has affected air traffic, although some airports have had to briefly reduce the number of security checkpoints due to Transportation Security Administration personnel shortages. Related A guide to air travel during the government shutdown Air traffic controllers are among the 800,000 federal employees who are missing their second paycheck Friday due to the shutdown. As “essential” employees, however, they’re being forced to work without pay. Air traffic controllers (like other essential employees working unpaid, such as TSA agents) have experienced higher-than-normal absence rates during the shutdown, either because of the financial hardship involved in coming to work unpaid or out of protest. On Wednesday, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union representing air traffic controllers, issued a statement that warned a continued shutdown could jeopardize air safety because of the understaffing caused by absences. “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,” the statement said. “It is unprecedented.” And on Friday, Association of Flight Attendants president Sara Nelson released a statement saying of the delays, “This is exactly what AFA and other aviation unions have been warning would happen. ... Do we have your attention now, Leader McConnell?” Flight attendant union to @SenMajLdr: “Do we have your attention now?” pic.twitter.com/fRWz1uqF1y — David Shepardson (@davidshepardson) January 25, 2019 On the equivalent weekday last year — Friday, January 26, 2018 — 1,144 flights landed or took off from LaGuardia, according to the FAA’s data tool.<doc-sep>It was only one airport, but the impact rippled through the system. At one point, arrivals at LaGuardia were delayed for an average of nearly two hours; for departures, it was nearly an hour. Delays also were reported at airports in Newark, Philadelphia and Atlanta.<doc-sep>At least four major airports suffered flight delays Friday because of an increase in air traffic control employees calling in sick amid the government shutdown, which ended Friday afternoon after 35 days thanks to a short-term deal. The Federal Aviation Administration’s flight delay map had showed significant departure delays at Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey, Friday morning. Lesser delays also showed at New York LaGuardia earlier in the day. By early afternoon, “staffing” delays had dissipated at Philadelphia but had popped up in Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport. The FAA listed “staffing” as the cause and had issued a “traffic management” initiative to slow down the rates of departures. Typically, that “metering” effort helps controllers space out planes to keep the pace of either arrivals or departures from exceeding their capacity. The FAA confirmed it had initiated procedures to adjust flights because of an increase in sick calls by controllers. “We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two facilities,” a spokesman for the FAA said in a statement to USA TODAY. “We’ve mitigated the impact by augmenting staffing, rerouting traffic, and increasing spacing between aircraft when needed. The results have been minimal impacts to efficiency while maintaining consistent levels of safety in the national airspace system. The public can monitor air traffic at fly.faa.gov and they should check with airline carriers for more information.” More:Amid shutdown, is it safe to fly? Airlines say yes, but worry about increasing delays More:Shutdown Day 35: Senate leaders negotiate as staffing shortages cause delays at major airports More:10 percent of TSA workers call in sick as government shutdown drags on At one point Friday morning, the FAA site had listed departure delays averaging more than an hour at both Newark and Philadelphia. The Philadelphia delays had dissipated later in the morning, according to the FAA site. Just before noon ET, LaGuardia remained a trouble spot, with delays on arriving flights averaging nearly 90 minutes. Atlanta's delays, which popped up after noon, were more than an hour. Delays persisted at Newark as of 12:55 p.m. ET, though the cause was no longer staffing but "wind," according to the FAA. Flyers could face sporadic delays at those airports, and possibly others, throughout the day. The delays were caused by an insufficient number of air traffic controllers in two regional facilities near Washington, D.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., according to the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center. Those facilities help coordinate the thousands of flights that fly through an area of the East Coast that stretches from Florida to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The news of staffing issues comes two days after leaders of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union which represents the controllers, held a press conference on the steps of Capitol Hill arguing that the now-ended shutdown was harming the safety of air travel in the United States. Air traffic controllers have been working without pay since Dec. 22. They have received paychecks during that time, but each check read $0.00, said Bill Striffler, the union’s representative at Newark airport. “We have a growing concern for the safety and security of our members, our airlines and the traveling public due to the government shutdown,” the union said in a statement issued prior to the end of the shutdown. “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.” Press secretary Sarah Sanders said President Trump has been briefed on the airport delays. “The President has been briefed and we are monitoring the ongoing delays at some airports. We are in regular contact with officials at the Department of Transportation and the FAA.” The travel troubles come a day after a trio of airline CEOs sounded alarms that the shutdown had reached a tipping point. The CEOs of American, Southwest and JetBlue specifically warned about the potential for flights to be delayed because a shortage of air traffic controllers would require more spacing between flights. One major airline, Air Canada, issued a rebooking waiver for customers headed to Newark and LaGuardia because of “Air Traffic Control restrictions.” So far, none of the biggest U.S. airlines were waiving fees, though they said they were monitoring the situation. “We haven’t experienced significant impacts to our operation or schedule at this point, but continue to monitor and are working closely with the FAA," American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said to USA TODAY before the shutdown-ending deal was announced. "Our goal is to minimize disruptions for our customers and our team members taking care of our customers. In this spirit, we urge that the federal government be re-opened before shutdown impacts begin to escalate.” JetBlue Airways passengers traveling Friday may experience delays or longer-than-normal flight times due to air traffic control staffing shortages, spokesman Philip Stewart said. Customers should check their flight status at jetblue.com or on the airline's mobile app, he said. Delta Air Lines said about 200 flights at LaGuardia and other airports in the Northeast were delayed Friday morning due to the FAA's ground delay program. "Delta is working to reaccomodate customers to their destinations and encourages customers traveling on Friday to check delta.com or the Fly Delta App for their current flight status,'' spokesman Drake Castañeda said. Labor officials also began to weigh in Friday on the staffing-related issues with controllers, saying that they had already sounded the alarm for potential harm to aviation from the shutdown. "This is exactly what AFA and other aviation unions have been warning would happen,” Sara Nelson, president of Association of Flight Attendants that represents about 50,000 attendants at numerous airlines, said in a statement. “The aviation system depends on the safety professionals who make it run,” she added. “They have been doing unbelievably heroic work even as they are betrayed by the government that employs them. They are fatigued, worried, and distracted – but they won't risk our safety. So the planes will stay on the ground. This is anything but a sick out - it is only about our safety and the air traffic controllers' absolute commitment to it.” Contributing: David Jackson and Dawn Gilbertson of USA TODAY and Christopher Maag of The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey.<doc-sep>
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.