Yesterday morning a two-hour disruption caused delays for flights between OAK and Los Angeles.
Yesterday morning, from around 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., a staffing shortage triggered a ground stop affecting Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport and Los Angeles International Airport flights, KTLA reported.
An LAX spokesperson confirmed the stoppage to KTLA and said it was caused by a staffing issue in Oakland. Los Angeles Magazine reported that the ground stop order was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, which grounded all flights to Oakland from LAX.
Tens of thousands of air traffic controllers and TSA agents have been working with reduced pay in what has become the second-longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. At a Friday press conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy insisted that the system was still safe but said it was under strain. “The stress level that our controllers are under control right now, I think, is unacceptable,” Duffy said.
In an effort to keep passengers safe, he said, “We will reduce the capacity of airplanes taking off and landing or we will cancel flights. And so you can and very well may see delays in the system, but that’s because our priority is you getting from Point A to Point B and getting there safely.”
Controllers are expected to see their first zeroed-out paychecks tomorrow, Oct. 28.
The Oaklandside reached out to Kaley Skantz, a spokesperson for OAK, to ask about whether a staffing shortage in Oakland was to blame for yesterday’s delays and whether it was the result of the federal shutdown. She declined to comment and referred us to the FAA, saying “They would be best suited to speak on their staffing levels and Air Traffic Control operations.”
An email to the FAA press office was met with the following reply: “Due to a lapse in funding, the FAA is not responding to routine media inquiries.”
A brief statement was attached, which read in full, “As Secretary Duffy has said, there have been increased staffing shortages across the system. When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations.”
Asked about the impact of the ground stop, Alyssa Foster, a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, one of the largest carriers at OAK, said, “Southwest does its best to minimize delays caused by ground stops, but the flow of air traffic is controlled entirely by the FAA. If we know in advance that controller staffing will be an issue, we can adjust our flight schedule to accommodate minor delays. As with all such challenges, we cancel or divert flights only when we have no other option.”
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