Furloughs of air traffic controllers because of U.S. government spending cuts are leading to flight delays and cancelations.
The Federal Aviation Agency logged 1,200 delays related to the sequester on Monday and 1,025 on Tuesday – in addition to 1,400 and 975 delays for other more usual reasons such as bad weather or aircraft maintenance problems on those days.
Independent tracker FlightStats.com found higher numbers – 404 flights canceled on Monday with 7,027 delays, and 385 flights canceled on Tuesday with 6,396 delays, said Sarena Regazzoni, director of corporate communications at FlightStats.com. In addition, she calculated 402 canceled flights on Wednesday, and 6,865 delays.
Because the sequestration process triggered automatic 10 percent budget cuts across federal agencies, the FAA has to trim $637 million. It expects to put up to 47,000 employees on furlough, a process that could run through September.
The results so far have created major problems for air travelers. As soon as one major airport experiences significant delays it can have a knock-on impact across the system.
What can you do to try to avoid take-off trouble? Here are some answers from experts for your most pressing questions. Read it at REUTERS.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
