SAN DIEGO — San Diego International Airport was experiencing heavy delays Thursday evening because of a shortage of air traffic controllers.

The airport automatically must slow the number of flights at the airport if the number of air traffic controllers falls below a certain level, based on Federal Aviation Administration rules.

Airport spokesperson Nicole Hall said staffing at the air traffic control tower was not related to a funding battle in Washington, D.C., that affected the Transportation Security Administration.

As of 5 p.m. Pacific time, San Diego International Airport had 171 delays, said Flight Aware, and two cancellations. Hall stressed that passengers not already at the airport should check their flight status online before heading there.

An advisory issued by the FAA said the delays would likely last until about 1 a.m. Friday. FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor emphasized the move was temporary.

“We’re temporarily delaying some San Diego-bound aircraft at their departure airports because of controller staffing constraints at the San Diego tower,” he said. “We’re also keeping arriving aircraft further apart than usual to further slow the flow of traffic into the airport.”

For now, it appeared San Diego fliers would be affected almost entirely by delays, not cancellations. The same went for passengers flying into San Diego.

Air traffic control shortages have been more in the spotlight this week after a crash Sunday night at New York’s LaGuardia Airport that killed two pilots. An Air Canada jet collided with a fire truck, injuring dozens in addition to the pilots’ deaths. Federal officials investigating the accident have raised concerns about air traffic control staffing issues, said NPR, but are still far from an official cause of the crash.

The delays come as passengers across the nation, and in San Diego, have experienced substantially longer security lines because of a five-week partial government shutdown. TSA agents were left unpaid as Democrats and some Republicans declined to fund Homeland Security’s budget. Some lawmakers have argued against what they say is an aggressive approach to immigration enforcement.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday afternoon that he would sign an emergency order to immediately pay TSA agents. The president made the announcement on social media and it wasn’t clear yet when paychecks will come.

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