“You need to identify me only as an FAA official,” the Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson told me on the phone Monday, explaining that was the order from headquarters in Washington on this sensitive subject.
I reluctantly agreed to the condition set, but it wasn’t as if what she was about to say next would turn the aviation world upside-down.
The news was that air-traffic operations were smooth as glass Monday over the Midwest and at O’Hare International and Midway Airports. It was the equivalent of driving your car on Sheridan Road from Howard Street to Lake Shore Drive and hitting green traffic lights at every intersection along the way.
Commercial air travel wasn’t expected to be so hassle-free, top FAA officials cautioned Congress last week, days before a furlough order took effect Sunday. The furlough requires FAA air-traffic controllers to stay home from work on unpaid leave for one day each two-week pay period until the end of September.
No one is wishing for it, but there is still plenty of time for air travel to get ugly, if the perfect storm of thunderstorms and lightning and FAA furloughs forms over Chicago, the New York region or other major U.S. aviation hubs, creating cascading gridlock across the national airspace system.
Whatever the future, it’s clear the story isn’t going away, and we’ll keep covering the important developments.
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