Flight Delays Cost America $41B, Congressional Report Says

WASHINGTON — Flight delays are enough of a headache. Now Congress is saying that getting stuck in airports and on runways is a "$41 billion punch in the gut."

The congressional Joint Economic Committee, in a report released yesterday, found that the total cost of domestic air traffic delays to the American economy in 2007 was almost $41 billion.

That included $19 billion in extra operating costs for the airlines, $12 billion in costs to passengers from reduced productivity and lost business and leisure opportunities, and almost $10 billion in indirect costs, particularly to food and lodging industries that rely on air traffic.

"Passengers, airlines, and our economy felt a $41 billion punch in the gut from flight delays," the chairman of the committee, Senator Schumer, said. "With the summer travel season being kicked off with Memorial Day, delays and the costs of those delays will only go up."

Mr. Schumer, presenting the report along with the vice chair of the committee, Representative Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, said the cost estimate was conservative because it did not include flights canceled entirely and applied only to domestic flights.