Reuters: U.S.: Delays hit major airports as control tower furloughs kick in

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Delays hit major airports as control tower furloughs kick in Apr 22nd 2013, 03:44 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News FAA approves Boeing Dreamliner battery system design Fri, Apr 19 2013 Airlines seek court action to block FAA furloughs Fri, Apr 19 2013 Furloughs likely to cut flight arrivals, regulator says Thu, Apr 18 2013 FAA warns of 3.5 hour flight delays this summer Thu, Apr 18 2013 FAA chief says Boeing 787 battery decision likely soon Tue, Apr 16 2013 Analysis & Opinion Suffering and apathy in Jaipur: drivers ignore hit-and-run victims Related Topics U.S. » Investing and Taxes Simplified » The air traffic control tower is shown at the Ramona Airport in Ramona, California March 12, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Mike Blake By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK | Sun Apr 21, 2013 11:44pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Travelers waited more than an hour for flights in New York and experienced delays at other U.S. airports on Sunday evening as furloughs of air traffic controllers began, reducing the ability of busy hubs to handle arrivals and departures, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The furloughs that started Sunday reduced staffing by 10 percent across the country. Last week the FAA warned of delays up to 3-1/2 hours at some airports as the agency cuts spending to meet reductions required under federal budget cuts. New York's LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports reported delays of more than an hour, and Philadelphia international airport also reported delays due to furloughs, the FAA said. Los Angeles International reported nearly a two-hour delay at 10 pm ET, and Newark Liberty International reported 28-minute delays, though the FAA could not confirm whether those were related to the staff cuts. Delays of up to 58 minutes in San Francisco and 29 minutes in Orlando, Florida, were due to construction and weather, the FAA said. "Relatively good weather throughout the country and light traffic helped minimize air traffic delays," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. The delays come as the FAA furloughs its 47,000 employees, including nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers who manage the nation's airspace. The furloughs are set to last through September, the end of the U.S. fiscal year, and are expected to save about $200 million of the $637 million the agency must cut from its $16 billion budget, the FAA said last week. Paul Rinaldi, president of the Air Traffic Controllers Association, said about 1,200 to 1,500 controllers will be staying home each day, on average, and that some airports might be able to shift staffing to reduce the effect of the furloughs. U.S. airports handle about 25,000 flights a day, he said. (Editing by Mary Milliken and Stacey Joyce) Investing and Taxes Simplified Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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