San Diego International Airport mostly spared from government shutdown

SAN DIEGO (NBC, KYMA) - The government shutdown is starting to cause ripple effects at airports across the country.

Staffing issues have caused cascading delays, although so far, the San Diego International Airport seems to be mostly spared.

Federal employees at San Diego International Airport are stepping up to help others around the country.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Newark, Denver and Phoenix there were long delays due to staffing.

On Monday night, the control tower at the Hollywood-Burbank Airport was left completely empty for six hours, leading to controllers in San Diego taking over.

An NBC affiliate in San Diego reached out to the FAA to ask about staffing and safety and they received an automatic replaying saying due to a lapse in funding the FAA is not responding to routine media inquiries.

In a statement to the NBC affiliate, the San Diego International Airport staff said, "San Diego International Airport continues to operate normally and essential federal aviation personnel are anticipated to remain on duty."

Former FAA and NTSB Safety Investigator Jeff Guzzetti expects air travel to remain safe, and passengers agree.

"If past is prologue, if this shutdown continues, I think it's going to not decrease safety but increase the delays and inconveniences to the flying passengers," Guzzetti explained.

"We usually get notifications if there's anything crazy going on but I think we will just be business as usual," said Rochelle Demers, a traveler.