US Warns Flight Delays Will Be Widespread

U.S. officials are warning that flight delays will be widespread as the full effect of the furlough of the government's air traffic controllers takes hold.

The Federal Aviation Administration Tuesday said air travelers "can expect to see a wide range of delays" that will vary depending on the number of air traffic controllers it has on duty at airports around the country, as well as on weather conditions.

The air safety agency's 47,000 employers - about a third of them air traffic controllers - are being furloughed without pay one day every two weeks for the next several months, as part of a plan to cut the government's chronic budget deficits.

These staffing cutbacks at airport terminals and regional air traffic control began Sunday. With fewer controllers working to manage flights through the vast U.S. air space, carriers have canceled hundreds of flights. The government attributed 1,200 flight delays on Monday to the staffing cutbacks and another 1,400 to weather and other factors.

On Tuesday, the staffing cutbacks, along with high winds, contributed to delays of more than two hours at Newark International Airport outside New York. There  also werelengthy delays at New York's other two main airports and shorter delays in Washington, Dallas, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

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