AviationFAA furloughs begin with impact on flights slight so far

Sunday was the first day of FAA furloughs, but commercial airline flights ran smoothly throughout the country. There were delays in New York area airports, but nothing that was considered significant. There were also delays in Florida, but  they were caused by thunderstorms.

Mark Duell of the Web site FlightAware told ABC Newsthat there were delays at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports  as a result of lower staffing. JFK averaged seventy minute delays for inbound flights, but did not have any departure issues. LaGuardia averaged delays of seventy-four minutes and departure delays of thirty-four minutes.

According to the FAA Web site, flights from Philadelphia and Orlando, Florida, into JFK, LaGuardia, and Westchester County airports were delayed due to understaffing. The agency also said that the recent warm weather and the fact that the furloughs began on the lightest day of air activity during the week, helped with minimizing the delays.

The FAA said it will be working with airlines “to minimize the delay impacts of lower staffing” as the busy summer travel season approaches.

Airlines for America, a group that represents airlines, originally predicted significant issues due to the furloughs, but on Sunday it released a statement saying it was “not seeing a significant impact at this point.” A spokeswoman said the group would continue to monitor the situation, and urged flyers to stay in contact with their airlines.

As part of the furloughs, FAA employees will lose one day of work every other week. The FAA has said that planes will have to take off and land less frequently in order to not overload the controllers who will stay on duty.

Last Friday, the country’s biggest pilots union, along with several airline trade groups, sued the FAA to try to stop the furloughs, arguing the reduced staffing would delay or cancel flights for as many as one out of every three airline passengers across the country.