Flights delayed at major Northeast US airports because of staffing, FAA says

Flights into the three major airports are delayed Friday morning by an average of 41 minutes, according to the FAA.

Departing flights from Philadelphia and Newark are delayed between an hour and an hour and 15 minutes, and LaGuardia departures delayed between 15 and 30 minutes, the FAA said.

"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 delays -- as the partial federal government shutdown marks its 35th day -- come less than two days after the president of a major air traffic controllers union warned that the ongoing shutdown poses a major safety risk.

Air traffic workers are making "routine mistakes" due to high levels of stress caused by the shutdown, Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told CNN on Wednesday night.

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