SAN FRANCISCO (KRONA) – The Federal Aviation Administration announced a 10% decrease in air traffic across the country due to a shortage of unpaid air traffic controllers during the government shutdown. This includes Oakland International Airport and San Francisco International Airport.
Those cuts have not started yet, and some people traveling to and from Boston have told KRON4 they are already dealing with delays of several hours.
But the cancellations are already piling up.
According to FlightAware, more than two dozen flights have already been canceled at SFO on Friday — and things could get worse before the holiday rush.
Passenger Gerald Lenoir said: “I hope to return home on my flight, but who knows. The federal government has to do something.” “It would be nice to fly when I’m supposed to. My wife is home alone and she’s disabled, so I’d like to go home.”
“They are playing serious and dangerous games with people’s lives,” said passenger Diana Devica, who was flying to Minneapolis. “My flight right now is still on time, but my husband is flying from Boston back to San Francisco tonight and his flight is now delayed. So it’s hard to deal with the uncertainty.”
The lack of air traffic controllers is causing frustration and uncertainty, with hundreds of flights scheduled to be imminently canceled on Friday at the country’s 40 busiest airports.
At San Francisco International Airport, travelers are already experiencing delays.
“Yes, it just happened,” said traveler Todd Brainard. “I thought my flight would be delayed by half an hour, which is not a big deal, so I will go home at midnight instead of 11:30. But now I will go home at midnight. I did not sign up for the red eye but I thank the government for giving me the red eye.”
According to FlightAware.com, at least 445 flights have already been canceled across the country on Friday, which is more than four times more than on Thursday.
“I looked at my ticket today and I’m now flying back to Seattle when I should have been flying to Everett, so it’s interesting that my flights have changed from origin or destination,” said traveler Richard Marks.
SFO spokesman Doug Yakel says the disrupted flights will be determined by each airline individually.