Air Travelers Experience Wave of Sequester Flight Delays

Air travelers in the U.S. Monday morning were greeted by growing delays throughout the East Coast because of mandated federal budget cuts brought on by the sequester, according to a published report.

Flights out of New York and Washington were delayed by more than two hours, an Associated Press report posted by NJ.com said, as the Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground. Air traffic controller furloughs were responsible for the delays, officials said, because there weren’t enough people to monitor busy air corridors.

In one example the report cited, the 8 a.m. US Airways shuttle left the gate at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. six minutes early, but didn’t take off until 9:58 a.m. The plane landed at 10:48 a.m. — more than 2½ hours later than scheduled, the report said.

Government budget cuts brought on by the sequester are forcing the FAA and other agencies to cut spending. FAA officials claim they must furlough all 47,000 agency employees — including almost 15,000 controllers. Each employee will lose one day of work every other week under the sequestration, the report concluded.

Raymond Adams, president of the air traffic controllers union at Newark Liberty International Airport, Tweeted a few flights out of Newark to the south got sent back to Newark because the Washington area air traffic control system was overwhelmed, the report said.