As reductions in flight traffic mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration took effect Friday morning — prompted by the government shutdown, now into its sixth week — travelers arriving at Bay Area airports faced significant flight delays and a ground stop.
The FAA announced Wednesday that it would reduce air traffic by 10% at 40 major aviation hubs across the country to maintain safety as air traffic controllers show signs of strain, including at San Francisco International Airport and Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport.
SFO was put into a ground stop shortly before 4 a.m. due to staffing, according to an advisory issued by the FAA. It was not clear when the ground stop would end.
Doug Yakel, spokesperson for SFO, said that airport experienced a ground delay program Friday morning due to low clouds and fog, which was only impacting short-haul flights along the West Coast. Transcontinental and international flights were not impacted by the delay.
As of 4 a.m., the airport was experiencing average ground delays of one hour and six minutes, according to a second FAA advisory.
Yakel added that, according to flight tracking service FlightAware, 41 flights had been canceled out of the airport as of Friday morning, with 39 of those cancellations announced Thursday.
“Most of these came with advance notification to customers,” he said. “(It’s) probably fair to say the 39 were related to the FAA order given the advance nature of those cancellations.”
Kaley Skantz, public information officer for OAK, confirmed Friday morning that the airport was one of those impacted by the airspace reductions. As of 9 a.m., the airport had seen four canceled departures and five canceled arrivals.
“The airlines that serve OAK are responsible for modifying their schedules to accommodate the new order,” Skantz said. “We will continue working with our airline partners and the FAA to minimize impacts to airport operations and travelers.”
Skantz added that those who are traveling in the coming days should verify their flight’s status with their airline and recommended downloading the airline’s app and enabling notifications.
Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began Oct. 1, and most have been on duty six days a week while putting in mandatory overtime. With some calling out of work due to frustration, taking second jobs or not having money for child care or gas, staffing shortages during some shifts have led to flight delays at a number of U.S. airports.
The traffic reduction will roll out over the course of several days, with Friday’s traffic expected to be reduced by about 4%. The cuts will increase to 5% Saturday, 6% Sunday and to the final 10% cut next week.
Spokespeople for SFO and OAK had not received formal notifications of whether the airports would be impacted Wednesday, but a list distributed to airlines and obtained by the Associated Press indicated that both would see flight reductions. San Jose Mineta International Airport was not on the list.
Ana State, assistant public information manager at SJC, said that SJC continued to be unaffected by the flight reductions Friday morning. One flight was canceled due to heavy fog at its destination airport.
“Currently, operations at SJC are continuing without disruption,” she said. “We have not yet received any reports from our airline partners of impacts to flights at SJC.”
Several airlines — including Delta, America and Southwest — indicated Thursday that the majority of travelers would not be impacted by the flight reductions.
Air traffic controllers have gone unpaid for more than a month during the government shutdown, with many working mandatory overtime shifts as air control towers see staffing shortages.
This is a developing report. Check back for updates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
