One of the many victims of sequestration will be the air travel industry. Starting this month, all air traffic controllers are facing a 10% cut in pay, due to a 10% cut in staffing through furloughs. This means that to ensure the safety of flights, all flights will be delayed by 30 minutes for an indefinite period of time. On April 21, the furloughs start at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, which will affect nearly every flight nationwide.
In addition, O’Hare could lose a tour and a runway for a portion of each day due to cutbacks, further impacting their operations. Smaller airports are struggling to find a way to stay open because the federal funding for their towers is being cut. Many towns are trying to fund the towers themselves, which is something they simply cannot afford. The FAA has announced the closures of 149 government contract towers will be delayed until June, but airports will still be affected before then due to the furloughs.
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