Budget cuts bite US flights

NEW YORK: Flight delays piled up all across America yesterday as thousands of air traffic controllers were forced to take an unpaid day off because of federal budget cuts, providing the most visible impact yet of Congress and the White House’s failure to agree on a long-term deficit-reduction plan.

The Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground because there weren’t enough controllers to monitor air corridors.

Delays at some of the busiest US airports held up many flights into New York, Baltimore and Washington by more than two hours.

Nearly a third of flights at New York’s LaGuardia airport scheduled to take off before 3pm were delayed 15 minutes or more, according to flighttracking service FlightAware. Last Monday, just six percent of LaGuardia’s flights were delayed.

The situation was similar at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, in Newark, New Jersey, and in Philadelphia with roughly 20 percent of flights delayed.

The FAA’s controller cuts – a 10 percent reduction of its staff – went into effect on Sunday. The full force was not felt until yesterday morning.

FAA officials have said they have no choice but to furlough all 47 000 agency employees – including nearly 15 000 controllers – because the agency’s budget is dominated by salaries. Each employee will lose one day of work every second week.

Some travel groups have warned that the disruptions could hurt the economy.

“If these disruptions unfold as predicted, business travellers will stay home, severely impacting not only the travel industry but the economy overall,” the Global Business Travel Association said. – Sapa-AP BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that euro-zone members must be prepared to cede control over certain policy domains to European institutions if the bloc is truly to overcome its debt crisis and win back investors.

Speaking at an event hosted by Deutsche Bank in Berlin, Merkel also defended her approach to the crisis against critics who argued she had put too much emphasis on austerity, saying Europe must find a way to deliver both growth and solid finances.

“We seem to find common solutions when we are staring over the abyss,” she said. “But as soon as the pressure eases, people say they want to go their own way. We need to be ready to accept that Europe has the last word in certain areas. Otherwise we won’t be able to continue to build Europe,” she added. – Reuters

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