SAN DIEGO — As staffing issues continue to hit several major airports across the United States, the San Diego International Airport is advising travelers to arrive early to catch their flights.
While San Diego International Airport has not yet reported any immediate issues, in a post on Instagram, airport officials said travelers should arrive two hours early for domestic flights and three hours early for international flights as a precautionary measure.
The warning comes as a federal government shutdown enters its seventh day on Tuesday, impacting air traffic controllers and other federal employees.
On Monday night, the Hollywood Burbank Airport operated without air traffic controllers for several hours, creating a number of flight delays for travelers. The airport had no air traffic controllers in its tower from 4:15 p.m. until 10 p.m.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the airport was expected to remain without controllers until about 10 p.m., but officials were working to bring in staff as soon as possible. It is unclear if controllers were actually back in the tower at 10:00 p.m. on Monday.
According to the FAA’s website, several measures were put in place, including ground delays at airports in other cities. The agency said departures to Burbank Airport were delayed an average of 151 minutes.
Duties were handed off to Southern California TRACON, a departure team based in San Diego, which coordinated with pilots arriving and departing from Burbank Airport.
Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed the situation on the shutdown, posting on X, “Thanks, @realDonaldTrump! Burbank Airport has ZERO air traffic controllers from 4:15 p.m. to 10 p.m. today because of YOUR government shutdown.”
Flight operations at Burbank were scheduled to return to normal on Tuesday with flights starting at 7:00 a.m., according to the operations employee on duty.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed the air traffic control concerns during a news conference held at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday. According to CBS News, Duffy said that some parts of the country were seeing an uptick in sick calls from air traffic controllers, who are working without pay until the government shutdown ends.
The shutdown comes at a time when the nation is already facing a shortage of air traffic controllers, with a CBS News analysis of FAA data showing that 90% of the terminal towers at U.S. airports didn’t have enough personnel to meet standards required by NATCA and the FAA.
In an advisory, the FAA also noted that staffing shortages were causing flight delays at airports in Denver, Newark and Phoenix.
Hopefully, this government shut down will us a break from so much plane noise and pollution.