Chaos after FAA ordered a temporary ground stop on flights at LaGuardia Airport and delays from Newark AND Philadelphia because of air traffic control staff shortage caused by government shutdown

Friday, January 25, 2019
By Paul Martin

Flights in and out of LaGuardia have been halted due to the severe staff shortages
It is causing a ripple effect at Philadelphia Itl and Newark where flights are delayed up to 1 hour and 15 mins
The FAA insisted the effects of the ground stop would be minimal but already, 69 flights in and out of all three airports have been canceled
The shutdown, the longest in history, is now in its 35th day and an increasing number of TSA workers are calling out sick to avoid having to work unpaid
Some of those who do show up are then pulling second shifts as waiters or Uber drivers for money then returning to the airport without sleep
President Trump has been briefed about the delays and is ‘monitoring them’

By JENNIFER SMITH
DAILYMAIL.COM
25 January 2019

Airport travel chaos swept the northeast coast on Friday after the FAA ordered a brief ground stop on flight bound for LaGuardia Airport and delaying planes bound for Newark and Philadelphia due to air traffic control staff shortages caused by the government shutdown.

In a quick-fire series of alerts shortly after 10am on Friday, the FAA advised that it had implemented a ‘traffic management program’ at LaGuardia, one of New York’s major hub airports.

By 10.30am, nine flights that were due to leave LaGuardia had been canceled and 17 that were destined for it had been canceled.

It caused a ripple effect on Philadelphia International Airport, where four inbound flights have been canceled and three outbound flights have also been scrapped, and at Newark which has already canceled 10 inbound flights and 26 outbound flights.

Between the three airports, 69 inbound and outbound flights have been canceled.

President Trump has been briefed about the delays and is ‘monitoring’ them.

Now in its 35th day, the government shutdown has tortured the nation’s airports and posed security fears with more and more TSA and air traffic controllers calling out sick to avoid having to work without pay.

The ground stop at LaGuardia has now been lifted but there are delays of up to 90 minutes expected.

There have been worrying reports that those who are still showing up for work are then pulling second shifts as Uber drivers and waiters to make ends meet then returning to the airport, exhausted, day after day.

No one is in the FAA’s public affairs office to answer questions about the chaos because of the shutdown but the agency released this statement which minimized the effect it would have: ‘We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two facilities.

The Rest…HERE

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