Flights into three US airports are being delayed due to staffing issues in air traffic control, the Federal Aviation Administration has said.

Air traffic was being delayed at LaGuardia airport in New York, Philadelphia international airport and Newark Liberty international airport in New Jersey, according to the FAA’s website.

The delays come amid the ongoing partial US government shutdown, which began on 22 December and has left 800,000 federal employees without pay cheques. Among them are more than 400,000 workers, including air traffic controllers, airport security workers and FBI agents, have been told they must continue to report into work because they are deemed essential.

A lack of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers had already forced some airports to close terminals.

“There is a Traffic Management Program in effect for traffic arriving La Guardia Airport, New York, NY (LGA),” the FAA said in an update on its website.

“This is causing some arriving flights to be delayed an average of 1 hour and 26 minutes. To see if you may be affected, select your departure airport and check ‘Delays by Destination’.”

The FAA said the delay was due to staffing.

Philadelphia airport said it was averaging departure delays of over an hour, while Newark said delays were “46 minutes and one hour in length and increasing”.

.@FAANews reporting departure delays of 1 hour, 14 minutes at PHL. Be sure to check flight status with your airline before coming to the airport. https://t.co/7JabJ3suPL — PHLAirport (@PHLAirport) January 25, 2019

Three unions for air traffic control workers issued a statement on Wednesday urging Congress and the White House to fund the government due to “unprecedented” risks to the air safety environment.

“In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break,” the statement reads.

The statement added that staffing at air traffic control facilities is currently at a 30-year low.

The FAA issued a statement in response, saying the “traveling public can be assured that our nation’s airspace is #safe”.

#FAA Statement: The traveling public can be assured that our nation's airspace is #safe. pic.twitter.com/NS6GyUUgbV — The FAA (@FAANews) January 24, 2019

More details soon …