Air traffic controller shortages amid shutdown lead to canceled flights, delays

A week into the government shutdown, flight delays and cancellations are starting to climb as sick calls involving air traffic controllers leave a number of airport towers and control facilities without enough staff to properly handle all flights.

The air traffic control tower overseeing airspace over Nashville International Airport was operating at an extremely limited amount of staffing on Tuesday, forcing some approach traffic to be handled by the air traffic control center in Memphis, Tennessee.

Flights in and out of Nashville were operating with an average delay of more than 2 hours on Tuesday evening.