Saturday is the beginning of the first weekend of federally mandated flight reductions at dozens of airports across the country.
In the Bay Area, that directive includes San Francisco and Oakland as the government shut down continues.
Magnolia Ng says she was supposed to hop on a morning flight at SFO, but things didn’t go as planned.
“We ended up being delayed due to maintenance issues ‘till 11:30 and it got pushed back ‘till 12:30 and now it’s 4:30 so we won’t arrive until 10-10:30 at Dallas so we figured it might be too late for everyone we’re just going to cancel our flight,” Ng said.
She also considered the FAA directive at 40 major airports for airlines to reduce flights. She didn’t want to take any chances with her trip.
The FAA ordered airlines to reduce air traffic by 4% on Friday, eventually increasing to 10%. It’s meant to ensure safety and relieve pressure on air traffic control workers. They’re facing staffing shortages and going without pay as the government shut down continues.
Many travelers said they were not affected Saturday and had their fingers crossed it would stay or made minor adjustments.
“I honestly thought I just need to allow a little bit extra time so but I’m not too worried,” Matt Wall, a traveler, said.
An airport duty manager said there were 33 cancellations on Saturday, and more than 200 delays, the majority of those delays likely related to the fog.
“Got the notices from the airlines our flight was on time up until about 20 minutes ago and then they delayed it but the incoming plane was delayed,” said Will Van Trump, another traveler.
Van Trump is headed out to see family in Memphis, with a stop in Dallas. He decided to make sure he had alterative if needed for the return trip.
“Getting back fingers crossed I did book up a back-up flight on another airline coming back so I have two flights that I can consider so if one is not looking good, I will cancel that and try the other one,” said Van Trump.
Aviation consultant Mike McCarron says the initial impact is on the margins.
“It’s relatively simple under the small margins of 4 or 5%, you start getting 10% or higher than you see a little more dramatic cuts,” McCarron said.
Source: NBC Bay Area