How Will FAA Furloughs Impact Travelers In The Rogue Valley?

Federal budget cuts are forcing thousands of air traffic controllers to take furlough days and that is impacting flights across the country.

Travel delays and cancelations can be a nightmare.

Just ask Michael Harris who had a tough time traveling to Medford last week.

“They told me ‘your flight is canceled, we’re gonna get you out of here at 10:30 tomorrow morning,” Harris explained.

Now the Federal Aviation Administration has been forced to make major budget cuts.

Because of the sequester,FAA officials say they have no choice but to put 15,000 air traffic controllers on furlough, which started Sunday.

Meaning with a smaller amount of employees, delays could stack up from just a few minutes to up to four hours.

The actions could also potentially delay as many as 6,700 flights a day.

However, it appears as if the faa furloughs won’t directly impact the Rogue Valley.

“Our tower is contracted by FAA, which means they are not actually FAA employees,” said Bern Case, the Director of Rogue Valley International Medford Airport.

Flights in and out of Medford do travel to some of the major cities who will be affected.

As for Harris, whose traveling back to Southern California he hopes he can avoid the delays by only traveling through the smaller airports.

While no furloughs will be taking place here in the valley, officials say it’s always a good reminder to check with your airline to see if there are any delays.