Federal officials temporarily restricted flights into and out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Friday in another example of the toll the partial government shutdown was having before Congress and President Trump agreed in the afternoon to a deal to end the shutdown on its 35th day.
Delays also were posted at airports in Philadelphia and Newark, and it’s likely to take a day or two for the nation’s transportation systems to get back to normal operations.
As of late morning Friday, travelers at the Portland International Jetport seemed to be taking the delays in stride, as one flight to LaGuardia posted an hour’s delay and two flights to O’Hare in Chicago were expected to be delayed by 20 minutes. By 3 p.m., the departure of a United Airlines flight bound for Newark was delayed one hour and 22 minutes. All other flights through 6 p.m. were expected to be on time.
Ok Lim Poulin used to live in Portland and was flying home to Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday morning after a visit. She said she was delayed about six hours because of her connection in LaGuardia.
“I don’t blame the people who aren’t working,” she said. “People have no choice … they have to find some way to survive.”
Mo Placey, a Gorham resident, was headed to Phoenix on business. Her flight was routed through Charlotte.
“I haven’t seen an alert as of yet … so fingers crossed,” she said.
Another traveler, Alberto Moreno of Portland, was headed to Miami, with a layover in Philadelphia.
TRAVEL ADVISORY: We are monitoring the FAA ground delay at LGA. Please check with your airline for current flight info into NY. pic.twitter.com/o91okbtOPm
— Portland Jetport (@portlandjetport) January 25, 2019
“I live here, but I don’t fly too much,” he said. “I don’t have any concerns.”
Travelers were notified of air traffic issues at fly.faa.gov and were advised to check with their airline for more information.
Ok Lim Poulin checks her phone Friday while waiting for her flight home to Grand Rapids, Mich., at the Portland International Jetport.
The jetport issued a travel advisory that it was monitoring the ground delay at LaGuardia and additional traffic management restrictions were also in place at Newark and Philadelphia airports. The delays could affect at least five flights arriving and departing Portland from those three airports.
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement that it had experienced “a slight increase in sick leave at two facilities.”
“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 FAA’s Airport Status Information website cited shortages at two facilities, including one near Washington, which manages air traffic.
The temporary restrictions affect arriving and departing flights at the airport. Arriving flights were delayed an average of 41 minutes and departures were experiencing delays between 15 and 29 minutes, the FAA said.
Delays at LaGuardia and Newark airports were still being monitored by the FAA into the late afternoon Friday.
This story contains material from the Washington Post.
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