The Sequester Effect On Air Travel In One Chart

On Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began furloughing all of its 47,000 employees for one day of work every other week, to meet spending cuts mandated by the sequestration.

The FAA has warned passengers to expect delays, as a reduced number of air traffic controllers will space flights further apart to allow them to manage traffic safely.

This chart shows the percentage of flights delayed at eight large airports around the country, for the two-month period before the staffing cuts, one week before, and immediately afterward.

There's a noticeable spike in delays on April 21, the first day the FAA operated with reduced staff, and then a huge jump on Monday at all of the airports listed.

Since the furloughs are scheduled to continue until the end of the fiscal year, in September, there's no reason to believe the number of delays will drop in the near future.

Delay statistics were provided to Business Insider by FlightStats.com.