The government shutdown has led to numerous flight cancellations and delays coming into and out of Southern California airports over the weekend.
Roughly 150 flights out of SoCal airports were canceled since Friday, when the Federal Aviation Administration’s flight reductions began, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Los Angeles International Airport, the region’s busiest airport, suffered the highest number of delays and cancellations in the area.
As of Sunday at 2:30 p.m., 89 departing flights had been canceled out of LAX since Friday. Ninety-three arriving flights had been canceled as well. Another 50 departures and 49 arrivals were canceled at San Diego International Airport.
Comparatively, other airports throughout the country fared worse than LAX on Sunday.
Just 3% of flights out of LAX were canceled Sunday, compared with 27% out of New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International and 23% out of New York’s LaGuardia. Chicago O’Hare saw 12% of its outbound flights canceled.
Meanwhile, 17% of flights out of LAX experienced delays.
The cancellations and delays stem from the government shutdown, which has left air traffic controllers working without pay, leading to staffing shortages across the country.
As a result, the FAA called on airlines at 40 airports, including LAX, San Diego International Airport and Ontario International Airport in Southern California, to reduce operations by 4% Friday. They are under orders to ramp that up to 10% by next Friday.
Major carriers were downplaying the affect of the reductions, as NPR reported. A United Airlines executive told the news outlet that the airline would try to minimize the impact on customers. “If there is a silver lining here, [it’s] that we are not in peak travel period now,” David Kinzelman, a senior vice president for airport operations, told NPR.
But with no end to the government shutdown in sight, the situation is likely to worsen.
“We are seeing signs of stress in the system, so we are proactively reducing the number of flights to make sure the American people continue to fly safely,” said Bryan Bedford, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Experts have said that booking flights that are nonstop is best. The lack of stops reduces the chances that your flight will be delayed or canceled. Also, experts say, avoid routes that use smaller planes, as those are likely to be the first that are canceled.
Morning flights are also safer bets than afternoon or evening ones, as the crew is usually already at the airport.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
