FAA halts flights into New York’s LaGuardia airport due to staff shortage

Author: CBS New York
Published:
Google Maps/ MGN

Incoming flights to LaGuardia Airport were delayed Friday due to a staffing problem, officials said.

“We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two air traffic control facilities affecting New York and Florida. As with severe storms, we will adjust operations to a safe rate to match available controller resources,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. “We’ve mitigated the impact by augmenting staffing, rerouting traffic, and increasing spacing between aircraft as 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.”

CBS News’ Kris van Cleave reports the air traffic control staffing problems originated at Washington and Jacksonville’s Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The two centers handle flights en route between destinations, van Cleave reported.

There are delays at Newark Liberty International Airport, Philadelphia and Tampa, van Cleave reported.

CBS News reports that departures at LaGuardia are likely to be delayed all day.

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The federal government shutdown is being eyed as the cause of the staffing problems.

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