Federal transportation agents have warned airport passengers that starting next week, they should expect massive-delays, during the busiest times at the country's busiest airports because federal spending cuts forced furloughs for air-traffic controllers.
"The worst delays, which will ebb and flow with daily traffic, are expected at 13 hubs: JFK, LaGuardia and Newark in the New York area; Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco in California; O'Hare and Midway in Chicago; Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Florida; Atlanta; Philadelphia and Charlotte," stated USA Today.
"To prevent planes from stacking up during busy times at those hubs, the Federal Aviation Administration will ground planes at their originating airports or order them to take circuitous routes," FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said, according to USA Today.
Depending on what airport passengers are traveling to and from, delays could be as long as 2 hours.
Huerta said that "the worst delays could be 210 minutes for flights headed to Atlanta, 132 minutes for flights to O'Hare and 80 minutes to LaGuardia."
The news is a bit better for JFK and Newark--delays could reach up to an hour or so, at the most.
"We are not going to sacrifice safety," said Huerta, who said weather could cause even worse delays. "There are about a dozen airports that will see heavy to moderate delays, which could be similar to what we would experience during a significant summer thunderstorm," according to USA Today.
As for the furloughs themselves, they only account for $200 million of the $637 million that the FAA must cut from this year's fiscal budget.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said officials are also cutting contracts and travel, but furloughs are needed to cut enough funding.
"This is a dumb idea," LaHood said of the spending cuts, reported USA Today. "It's a meat-axe approach. Congress needs to fix it."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
