Increase in 'sick leave' causing flight delays at LaGuardia

Increase in ‘sick leave’ causing flight delays at LaGuardia

Passengers stand in line as they wait to pass through a TSA security checkpoint at LaGuardia airport Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

The Federal Aviation Administration is reporting delays in air travel because of a “slight increase in sick leave” at two East Coast air traffic control facilities.

FAA spokesman Gregory Martin said Friday that it had augmented staffing, rerouted traffic and increased spacing between planes as needed.

The staffing problems were at air traffic centers in Jacksonville, Florida and a Washington D.C. center that controls high-altitude air traffic over seven states.

Martin says safety is being maintained during a period of “minimal impacts” on travel.

LaGuardia Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were both experiencing delays in takeoffs.

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