FAA says furloughs over, flights back to normal by Sunday

The FAA said Saturday it is ending its furloughs of air traffic controllers, and said all service should be back to normal by Sunday night.

Congress on Friday passed a bill ordering President Obama to cancel the furloughs, which had thrown airports into chaos and had enraged travelers.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it had to do the furloughs under the $85 billion in budget sequesters that took effect March 1.

The furloughs began last weekend, with just a few days’ notice to airports and airlines, who were left scrambling. With fewer controllers, plane departures had to be spaced out more, leading to long waits on the runway for many passengers.

Republicans in Congress accused Mr. Obama of trying to make the furloughs as painful as possible in order to convince the public of the need to raise taxes to cancel the sequester cuts.

But the FAA said it didn’t have any choice in how it carried out the cuts.

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