New York City airports latest: More delays, cancellations on Monday, as government shutdown continues

Travelers coming and going to Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports continued to face flight delays and cancellations on Monday with the federal shutdown in its 41st day.

By Monday afternoon, a combined 158 flights departing or arriving at LaGuardia Airport had been canceled and another 275 were delayed, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. At Kennedy Airport, 93 incoming and outgoing flights were canceled and another 246 were delayed. Neighboring Newark Liberty International Airport didn't fare much better: The New Jersey airport was already experiencing 104 cancellations and another 275 delays, according to FlightAware.

Newark reported an average delay of 45 minutes. Meanwhile at LaGuardia, delays reached nearly two hours due to a combination of air traffic and the weather. 

The cancellations and delays continued days after federal transportation officials implemented air traffic cuts in the country’s busiest airports to alleviate pressure on air traffic controllers who’ve been working under strain and without a paycheck since the shutdown began Oct. 1.

Flights departing and arriving at MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma were largely unaffected by the chaos plaguing larger airports. The lone canceled departing flight was a Southwest plane headed to Baltimore, while the only canceled arrival was from the same carrier and city.

Frank Carrese, 77, originally of Coram, was flying back to West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday. Standing in front of the electronic departure board at MacArthur, he watched his JetBlue flight time shift repeatedly, first scheduled for 2 p.m., then 2:19, back to 2:03, and finally to 2:22. 

"I figured it would be delayed again once I got here, but at least it’s not going any later," Carrese said. "I’m hoping it ends by the holidays because I’d really like to come during Christmas. I think that’s going to be really crazy if they don’t get things together by then."

Robyn Firmani of Florida was heading to Orlando on a Frontier flight that had been delayed by roughly an hour. 

"I had been checking the app all day because of the situation. I even checked it in the car just now, and when I got inside it was delayed," Firmani said. "I would’ve stayed [at my mom’s house] longer if I knew. Frontier check-in mentioned the air traffic was causing the delay."

Across the country, daily airline cancellations reached  2,500 by Monday afternoon, with more than 6,400 delays. On Sunday, nearly 3,500 cancellations occurred nationwide, with more than 11,000 delays.

Last week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Bryan Bedford, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said they would cut air traffic by 10% to ease the workload on air traffic controllers. The reduction began Friday, with 4% of operations curbed. The reductions will ramp up to 6% on Tuesday, 8% on Thursday and 10% by this Friday, according to transit officials.

Check back for updates on this developing story.