Airline Flight Delays Rise in Wake of FAA Furloughs – Trend Likely to Worsen over Summer Air Travel Season

On Sunday, the FAA reportedly implemented a work force reduction in its air traffic control centers which will have a devastating impact on flight delays and the on time performance of the airlines operating in the United States. Since its implementation, the furloughs within ATC have already caused hundreds of delayed flights.

The cut-back at ATC is part of the government’s budget sequester and equated to approximately a 10 percent reduction in the air traffic control work force. According to one controller, the FAA will be requiring controllers to take additional, unpaid, days off in order to reduce costs. The result will be further cuts in an already understaffed air traffic control operation.

The FAA predicts that at eight major airports of: EWR, JFK, LGA, FLL, ORD, MSP, SAN, and LAX daily ground delay programs will affect approximately 3,800 flights. Traffic management initiatives are expected to impact 2,900 daily flights across the airports of PHL, CLT, ATL, MIA, MDW, and SFO. The following cities are not expected to be impacted BOS, BWI, MCO, SDF, DFW, DAL, IAH, HOU, DEN, SLC, PHX, and LAS. However, flights at these airports could be impacted if they are awaiting the arrival of aircraft from the other airports listed previously.

In response to the FAA action, several airlines, including United, have filed a lawsuit in federal court to try to stop the FAA from taking what they refer to as “irresponsible and damaging action.” The airlines believe that the FAA should be able to meet its budget cuts is ways that don’t affect the air traffic control system, and don’t require the furlough of its front line air traffic controllers.

In a message to its employees, United CEO Jeff Smisek wrote that, “The FAA’s proposed actions are disappointingly irresponsible, and the FAA has refused so far to take any action to reduce the adverse impact on our customers.”

United indicated that the airline is developing contingency plans to operate through reduced ATC capacity, using irregular operations procedures. The hope is that the airline will be able to minimize the impact of sequestration-related delays on its customers and employees.