FAA furloughs kick in, some flight delays appear

Commercial airline flights moved smoothly throughout most of the country on Sunday, the first day air traffic controllers were subject to furloughs resulting from government spending cuts, though some delays appeared in the late evening in and around New York. And even though the nightmarish flight delays and cancellations that the airline industry predicted would result from the furloughs did not materialize, the real test will come today , when traffic ramps up.

A note posted on the FAA’s website indicated that, because of staffing, departure traffic at McCarran International Airport destined for Los Angeles International Airport was delayed an average 3 hours and 7 minutes. But a check of McCarran’s website showed flight delays ranging from 45 minutes to 110 minutes for several California destinations including Los Angeles, Sacramento, Oakland and Fresno. Traffic to other parts of the country showed departures mostly on time.

Information from the FAA and others showed that flying Sunday was largely uneventful, with most flights on time. There were delays in parts of Florida, but those were caused by thunderstorms.

Mark Duell at the flight tracking website FlightAware said that John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York indicated delays because of lower staffing starting late Sunday evening. JFK averaged 70-minute delays for inbound flights, but no detectable departure delays. LaGuardia averaged 74-minute delays for inbound flights and departure delays of 37 minutes.

The FAA website said staffing issues delayed flights from Philadelphia and Orlando, Fla., into John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Westchester County airports .

The FAA said that “relatively good weather” and light traffic, which is typical of Sundays, helped keep delays in check. The agency said it would be working with airlines “to minimize the delay impacts of lower staffing” as the busy summer travel season approaches.

Government budget cuts that kicked in last month are forcing the FAA and other agencies to cut their spending. FAA officials have said they have no choice but to furlough all 47,000 agency employees, including nearly 15,000 controllers. Each employee will lose one day of work every other week.