SoCal Airport Flights Delayed Due To Shutdown

LOS ANGELES, CA — Some of the nation's major airports are reporting big delays Friday due to federal aviation worker sick callouts during the longest partial government shutdown in history. New York City’s LaGuardia Airport stopped receiving flights Friday morning, and that will probably affect air travel across the country, including at Los Angeles International Airport, Long Beach and John Wayne Airport in Orange County as well as surrounding airports across Southern California.

Locally, LAX is experiencing TSA waits of roughly 15 minutes. However departures to New York's major airports from LAX are experiencing delays of roughly an hour-and-a-half. Long Beach and John Wayne Airports report similarly brief security lines with hours-long delays for flights headed to LaGuardia Airport.

John Wayne Airport has advised all travelers to check ahead and allow extra time for security check in, a spokesperson said.

"Due to the government shutdown, please check your flight schedule for cancellations or delays," officials warned.

Check back here throughout the day if you plan to travel or meet a flight.

The FAA’s stop on flights into LaGuardia came two days after aviation workers released a statement warning the shutdown poses serious risks to both its members and travelers.

“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 released Wednesday read.

The shutdown entered its 35th day Friday, which also marks the second missed paycheck for the 800,000 federal workers who have been furloughed during the dispute over border wall funding. Workers who are critical to air safety are among those working without pay.

Read More: Flights Into LaGuardia Stopped Amid Shutdown

LaGuardia-bound flights from Newark International and Philadelphia International airports were delayed an average of 41 minutes, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

"We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two air traffic control facilities affecting New York and Florida," the FAA said in a statement. "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 results have been minimal impacts to efficiency while maintaining consistent levels of safety in the national airspace system," the statement continued. "The public can monitor air traffic atfly.faa.gov and they should check with airline carriers for more information."

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