CHICAGO (WLS) — The ongoing government shutdown led to flight delays at Chicago O’Hare Airport on Tuesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the Northwest Side airport has been hit by staffing shortages with air traffic control facilities and towers.

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Controllers are considered essential workers, so they must work during the shutdown, but they are not getting paid. Some workers have been calling in sick.

“We want to make sure we have air travel safe, and controllers focused not on their mortgages, not on the next paycheck, not on food on the table, but actually on making sure you and your family are safe,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Though the airport was not very busy on Tuesday evening, delays still impacted travelers.

Earlier Tuesday, the FAA said, “Departures to Chicago O’Hare International are delayed avg. 41 mins. due to other delays assigned to departures within 1,200 nautical miles.” That alert has since been removed from the FAA website.

People taking off somewhere, coming home or just transiting felt more than inconvenienced on Tuesday.

The annoyed passengers do not like being part of the flying public inconvenienced by a political fight in Washington, D.C.

O’Hare is one of at least eight airports around the country facing staffing shortages.

An FAA statement issues earlier Tuesday reads, “Due to a recent lapse in funding, we know there are many questions about flight delays and staffing shortages across the system. For real-time updates at U.S. airports, including staffing and weather, visit https://nasstatus.faa.gov.”

This comes after Burbank Airport in the Los Angeles area was forced to close its air traffic tower on Tuesday because it had zero controllers on the job.