If you flew in or out of San Francisco International Airport on Friday, the Blue Angels may have had something to do with your wait.
What happened
The Federal Aviation Administration put SFO under a ground delay program on Oct. 9, the opening day of Fleet Week's weekend air shows. A ground delay program does not shut an airport down. Instead, the FAA holds flights at their departure airports and releases them in metered slots, so planes are not circling the Bay waiting to land.
By Friday evening, 457 flights arriving at or leaving SFO had been delayed and eight had been canceled, according to flight tracking data compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle. The average delay was 57 minutes, and the FAA's advisory listed a maximum delay of 601 minutes, or about 10 hours.
Why
The FAA pointed to staffing as the reason and referenced changes to airport operations after the afternoon air show, the Chronicle reported. The advisory did not say how many air traffic controllers were assigned to Fleet Week. FAA status listings tracked by the site ATIS Alerts showed the program in effect through 11:59 p.m. Friday, with projected arrival rates of 36 to 45 planes per hour.
SFO was not alone. A daily roundup of FAA data from Travel and Tour News counted delay programs at 17 U.S. airports on Friday, including Boston Logan, San Diego and Chicago O'Hare. Air shows were listed as a factor at both SFO and Washington's Reagan National.
The show itself
Fog didn't help. The Blue Angels started their demonstration shortly before 4 p.m. but cut it short because of poor visibility over the Bay, the Chronicle reported.
If you are flying this weekend
The air shows continue Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with the Blue Angels scheduled both days. It is not yet clear whether the FAA will slow SFO traffic again. Travelers should check with their airline before heading to the airport, and can see current FAA restrictions at nasstatus.faa.gov.