Thousands of US flights delayed as FAA staffing tied to shutdown

Thousands of U.S. flights have been delayed this week as air traffic control staffing shortfalls tied to the federal government shutdown forced regulators to slow operations at multiple major airports, officials and industry trackers said. The disruptions, reported from Los Angeles to New York and Nashville, have included ground delays, reduced arrival rates and temporary tower closures since the shutdown began Oct. 1.

Federal Aviation Administration advisories and flight-tracking services showed widespread impacts across the national airspace system. Controllers at some towers were unavailable for hours, including an extended period at Hollywood Burbank Airport and a five-hour outage that affected Nashville operations. The FAA identified staffing-impacted facilities in cities including Chicago, Denver, Newark, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Boston, and imposed ground-delay programs and reduced arrival rates at several hubs to maintain safe spacing between aircraft.

Flight trackers counted thousands of delayed flights in the days after the shutdown started, with totals described by different services as ranging into the several thousands across the busiest days. The FAA said...