Federal Spending Cuts May Lead to Flight Delays

Members of the United States Congress are currently working against the clock to come up with an acceptable national budget. If they are unable to come to an agreement, a process known as sequestration will kick in and provide automatic federal spending cuts of approximately $1.2 trillion over the next ten years. Since Hawaii’s economy is heavily dependent on the military and civilian Department of Defense sectors, there is a serious concern as to how Hawaii’s economic rebound will be effected by these potential cuts.

One area which is being overlooked is the fact that air-traffic control personnel would be effected by sequestration. U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, noted that there may be major flight delays around the country as the Federal Aviation Administration would have to furlough staff at air-traffic control facilities. LaHood stated, “It’s going to be very painful for the flying public. This is going to have an enormous impact. Once airlines see the potential impact of these furloughs, we expect that they will change their schedules and cancel flights. It’s not possible to continue the same schedules with less people.”

Hawaii Tourism Authority’s vice president of brand management, David Uchiyama, stated, “It would have a huge impact if airports were closed, but my understanding is that it wouldn’t get to that. I think it affects us more with air traffic controllers. At this point, fortunately because we’re not a business destination as much as we’d like to be and more people are here on leisure, I don’t think the impact will be as great. That’s going to create major adjustments people will have to make to compensate for the delays, which I think over time they can adjust for. But for us a good portion of our business is leisure, and I think there’s a little more flexibility. But it does affect the traveler’s experience, and that’s something we’re very sensitive to.”

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 2-23-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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