Nearly 50 per cent of the 30 busiest US airports are grappling with shortages of air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration has said, leading to flight delays nationwide as a federal government shutdown hit its 32nd day.
The absence of controllers is by far the most widespread since the shutdown began, with one of the worst-hit regions being New York, where 80pc of air traffic controllers were out, the regulator said.
It delayed flights at airports in Austin, Newark and Nashville as air traffic control staffing problems snarl flights.
At least nine FAA facilities reported staffing problems earlier in the day, with the regulator saying it was likely to delay flights later at airports in the Houston and Dallas area.
Flight delays were averaging 61 minutes at Nashville, 50 minutes at Austin and 101 minutes at Newark.
Aviation tracking site FlightAware showed, 2,200 US flights had been delayed and 300 cancelled. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he expected more flight delays in the next few days.
“Coming into this weekend and then the week after, I think you are going to see even more disruptions in the airspace,” Duffy said on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom.
On Thursday, air traffic control staffing shortages snarled flights at Orlando, Dallas/Fort Worth and Washington, DC, when FlightAware data showed 7,300 flights delayed and 1,250 cancelled across the US.
The shutdown has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers to work without pay.
&uuid=(email))