Delays, cancellations at Sacramento airport as government shutdown effects spread

Some Sacramento International Airport flights were canceled and at least 49 were delayed Friday as the Federal Aviation Administration cut back air travel at 40 major U.S. airports during the ongoing government shutdown.

As of 1:15 p.m. Friday, online flight tracker FlightAware reported 11 cancellations and 49 delays at SMF. All the canceled flights and a majority of the delayed flights were headed to or from the 40 major airports where Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered flights to be gradually reduced by 10% starting Friday as a safety precaution due to staffing shortages amid the ongoing federal shutdown, now in its 38th day.

Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration personnel are two groups of federal workers who have been forced to continue in their roles without pay. That stress has led to staff shortages, particularly among air traffic controllers, who are critical to the safe operation of aircraft. The Sacramento County Department of Airports said this week that it had not experienced air traffic controller shortages during the five-week shutdown so far; however, the shortages, delays and cancellations at other airports have had cascading effects.

At the San Francisco International Airport, which is one of the 40 airports affected by mandated travel cuts, 47 flights were canceled Friday. Two of those flights had been headed to Sacramento, according to FlightAware. Other canceled flights that were supposed to arrive at SMF Friday were from San Diego, Los Angeles and Denver international airports.

A spokesperson for the county’s Department of Airports said he was not sure whether the cancellations were related to the shutdown.

At SMF, two flights departing for San Francisco were canceled. Departing flights headed to San Diego, Denver, LAX and Portland, Oregon, were also canceled.

The delays were split fairly evenly between arrivals and departures. At 1 p.m., 25 arriving flights and 24 departing flights experienced delays.

The shutdown began Oct. 1 when Republicans and Democrats in Congress could not agree on a budget deal before the previous one expired. The two parties reached an impasse over whether to extend subsidies that help millions of Americans pay for health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act. Republicans refused to include the subsidies in the budget deal.

If the shutdown continues through Thanksgiving, the effects on holiday travel could be enormous. Thanksgiving is typically the busiest travel time of the year.