AIRPORTS !: From Late To Later

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Chicago's O'Hare airport, already the most delay-plagued hub in the U.S., may be taking a turn for the worse. The slowdown comes as the result of excessive stress on O'Hare's air-traffic controllers, who committed four errors over five days in late September and early October. In one incident, two United Airlines jets passed within 500 ft. of each other. Blaming a shortage of experienced controllers at O'Hare, the Federal Aviation Administration reduced landings at the airport from 96 an hour to 80 during evening rush hours. Last week the FAA also recommended 20% pay hikes for controllers at O'Hare, New York City's Kennedy airport and Los Angeles International airport. The Government hopes to attract more veteran controllers to work at these hubs, where the jobs are far more pressured than at quieter airports.

So far, the new limits at O'Hare have delayed only a few dozen more flights a day than usual. But winter weather could seriously escalate the delays and create backups from Minneapolis to Detroit.