NEW YORK — The Federal Aviation Administration reported delays in air travel Friday because of a “slight increase in sick leave” at two East Coast air traffic control facilities.

The delays come as a partial government shutdown threatens to undermine the nation’s air travel system. Air traffic controllers and airport security agents have been working without pay since the federal shutdown began in December, but high absentee rates raise the possibility of long airport lines, or even worse.

As of late morning, travelers at the Portland International Jetport seemed to be taking the news in stride, as one flight to LaGuardia posted an hour’s delay and two flights to O’Hare in Chicago were expected to be delayed by 20 minutes.

Mo Placey, a Gorham resident, was headed to Phoenix on business. Her flight was routed through Charlotte.

“I haven’t seen an alert as of yet… so fingers crossed,” she said.

Another traveler, Alberto Moreno of Portland, was headed to Miami, with a layover in Philadelphia.“I live here, but I don’t fly too much,” he said. “I don’t have any concerns.”

The jetport issued a travel advisory that it was monitoring the ground delay at LaGuardia and additional traffic management restrictions were also in place at Newark and Philadelphia airports. The delays could affect at least five flights arriving and departing Portland from those three airports.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: Additional traffic management restrictions in place for Newark and Philadelphia. Please check with your airline for additional information. pic.twitter.com/RyXnQkZWuz

— Portland Jetport (@portlandjetport) January 25, 2019

The White House said spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump has been briefed on the delays and “we are monitoring the ongoing delays at some airports.”

“We are in regular contact with officials at the Department of Transportation and the FAA,” Sanders said in a statement.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote a letter to Trump earlier Friday saying the shutdown is impacting safety and security at airports and putting travelers at risk.

FAA spokesman Gregory Martin said Friday that it had augmented staffing, rerouted traffic and increased spacing between planes as needed.

The staffing problems were at air traffic centers in Jacksonville, Florida and a Washington D.C. center that controls high-altitude air traffic over seven states.

“The results have been minimal impacts to efficiency while maintaining consistent levels of safety in the national airspace system,” Martin said in an emailed statement.

LaGuardia Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were both experiencing at least 90-minute delays in takeoffs Friday.

Rep. Chellie Pingree arrives at the Portland Jetport from Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 25, 2019. Pingree said that she and other congress members could be called back to D.C. at any point.

Sanjay Shetty was waiting at LaGuardia to board a flight to Detroit when he heard an announcement about a ground stop due to a “staff shortage” around 10:15 a.m. He said he and other passengers eventually started boarding at 10:50 a.m. — the plane’s scheduled departure time. It wasn’t clear when they would get off the ground.

“The shutdown hadn’t affected me until now,” the management consultant from Ann Arbor, Michigan, tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had maximum wait times Thursday of 42 minutes, the highest of the nation’s top 42 airports.

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport had the second-longest wait time, of 19 minutes.

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