Sequester Cuts Hitting Casper-Natrona County Airport Operations

Transportation officials are warning that travelers could see increased delays at airports nationwide after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a series of sequester-tied air traffic control furloughs Sunday.

Several major airports were reporting average delays of at least 20 minutes this weekend. Some delays at the nation’s largest airports neared two hours or more.

Officials at Casper-Natrona County International Airport say some delays are being seen locally. Casper-Natrona County International Airport manager Glenn Januska says most of the sequester-related delays tied to CPR, however, have less to do with air traffic control operations and more to do with repair, weather and ground operations.

“When everything is taken care of during normal operations, then everything runs fine,” Januska said. “It’s break-downs after hours and when we need to have people here longer – that’s where we’ve started to feel the impact.”

Januska says air traffic control operations at his airport will likely not be affected by the automatic federal budget cuts that took effect last month.