An air traffic tower at a major U.S. airport went unmanned for several hours.

From 4:15 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, there were no air traffic controllers in the tower at Hollywood Burbank Airport due to a shortage of staff amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Operations were instead run remotely by Southern California TRACON, an approach and departure team out of San Diego with an already heavy workload.

Planes were still taking off at the airport at 11 p.m. on Monday due to delays and cancellations, ABC News reported.

Air traffic controllers are government employees and are considered essential, so they must keep working, but are doing so without pay.

“These air traffic controllers are real people fighting to put food on the table,” aviation expert Pete Muntean told CNN. “This shows

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