Airline issues create longest delays

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- An analysis of U.S. flight delays found airline glitches responsible for the majority of time passengers spent waiting for late departures.

The USA Today analysis of data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, found airline issues -- including pilot shortages, slow refueling and mechanical problems -- were responsible for 23.8 million minutes of flight delays in the United States from the start of 2007 through October, the newspaper reported.

The next largest cause, air-traffic congestion, accounted for 23.3 million minutes of delays.

Congestion was responsible for a slightly higher number of delays, but airline issues tended to cause longer wait times. The average length of a congestion-related delay in the time period was 47 minutes, while the average wait time for airline troubles was 55 minutes.

"It's symptomatic of an entire system out of control right now," airline consultant Darryl Jenkins said.

Jenkins and other experts attributed the rise in airline-caused delays to staff cuts implemented to compensate for financial troubles following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.