Furloughs delay Chicago flights

Traveler headed to Chicago on Wednesday morning faced 30 minute delays due to furloughs.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney)

Airlines flying into Chicago's O'Hare International Airport faced delays of at least 30 minutes, after fewer air traffic controllers reported for duty on Wednesday morning.

Controllers are being forced to take unpaid time off by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has to cut $600 million of its spending by September. It's part of the forced spending cuts at federal agencies that went into effect on March 1 to save the government $85 billion.

With fewer staff members at the Chicago Terminal Radar Approach Tower in Elgin, Illinois, flights into O'Hare were most affected on Wednesday. That office controls all air traffic in the Chicagoland area, said union officials.

As more controllers report to duty this afternoon, the delays are expected to ease.

"In the next three to four hours staffing should improve for the evening shift and we can land on a third runway," said Dan Carrico, a controller for O'Hare airport.

Airport delays started on Sunday, when furloughs kicked in for 47,000 Federal Aviation Administration workers, including 15,000 air traffic controllers. Each day, as many as 1,500 controllers or 10% of the workforce are being forced to take time unpaid off to save money.

The delays have mostly been centered around large airports in the New York area, Los Angeles and Dallas. There were 1,200 delays on Monday specifically tied to fewer air traffic controllers at work, according to the transportation agency. Weather and other factors caused another 1,400 delays. On Sunday, the agency reported 400 delays due to furloughs.

The log jam is expected to continue as each FAA employee has to take 11 furlough days through September.

Five things to know about FAA furloughs

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said he had no choice but to resort to furloughs at the FAA to save money. In a call with reporters on Tuesday, he dismissed accusations that FAA furloughs are politically motivated to make budget cuts feel worse than they are.

In the meantime, the FAA is considering temporarily shelving a rule that currently stops airlines from keeping passengers sitting in planes on tarmacs longer than three or four hours, to keep air traffic flowing.

The airline lobbying group Airlines for America is pushing for the option of keeping passengers on planes longer to help accommodate delays from furloughs.

Airlines want to "minimize and avoid worsening the disruption and inconvenience to our passengers," said Katie Connell, managing director for the group.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday grilled FAA director Michael Huerta, asking him why he didn't warn them about flight delays.

"My first question is: Why didn't you tell us about it beforehand?" asked Hal Rogers, a Republican who runs the House Appropriations panel.

First Published: April 24, 2013: 11:00 AM ET

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