Flight delays pile up after FAA budget cuts

It was a tough start to the week for many air travellers. Flight delays piled up all along the East Coast on Monday as thousands of air traffic controllers were forced to take an unpaid day off because of federal budget cuts.

Some flights into New York, Baltimore and Washington were delayed by more than two hours as the Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground because there weren't enough controllers to monitor busy air corridors.

One out of every five flights at New York's LaGuardia International scheduled to take off before noon on Monday was delayed 15 minutes or more, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Last Monday morning, just two per cent of LaGuardia's flights were delayed. The situation was similar at Washington's Reagan National Airport, in Newark, New Jersey, and in Philadelphia.

Some flights were late by two hours or more.

For instance, the 8 a.m. US Airways shuttle from Washington to New York pushed back from the gate six minutes early but didn't take off until 9:58 a.m. The plane landed at 10:48 a.m. - more than two and a half hours late.

If travellers instead took Amtrak's 8 a.m. Acela Express train from Washington, they would arrive in New York at 10:42 a.m. - four minutes early.

BUDGET CUTS

The furloughs are part of mandatory budget cuts that kicked in on March 1 after Democrats and Republicans missed a deadline to agree on a long-term deficit reduction plan.

FAA officials have said they have no choice but to furlough all 47,000 agency employees, including nearly 15,000 air traffic controllers. Each employee will lose one day of work every other week. The FAA has said that planes will have to take off and land less frequently, so as not to overload the remaining controllers on duty.

Critics have said the FAA could reduce its budget in other spots that wouldn't delay travellers.

Monday is typically one of the busiest days at airports with many business travellers setting out for a week on the road. The FAA's controller cuts - a 10 per cent reduction of its staff - went into effect Sunday but the full force wasn't felt until Monday morning.

Some travel groups have warned that the disruptions could hurt the economy.

"If these disruptions unfold as predicted, business travellers will stay home, severely impacting not only the travel industry but the economy overall," the Global Business Travel Association warned the head of the FAA, Michael P Huerta, in a letter last Friday.

Delta Air Lines said it was "disappointed" in the furloughs and warned travellers Monday to expect delays in the following cities: New York, Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Two airline trade associations and the nation's largest pilots union filed a lawsuit Friday asking the US Court of Appeals to halt the furloughs.

- AP