Flight delays likely to continue

In Washington, Nicholas Sabatini, the FAA official who ordered stricter compliance with federal safety standards after the Southwest debacle, faced tough questions from Congress about his responsibility for the lapses.

He told a Senate subcommittee he was accountable for the recent breakdowns in compliance, and blamed the Southwest incident on the failure of both FAA and airline employees.

Another sign of the political stakes: The Senate confirmation process for acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell, who was nominated by President Bush in October, has been put on hold.

Before the latest turmoil, the industry could point to a solid record of safety in recent years, a laurel the FAA could also rest on. The last U.S. crash of a jumbo jet was in November 2001, when an American Airlines flight plummeted into a New York City neighborhood, killing 265 people.

After a ValuJet flight crashed in Florida 12 years ago, some in Congress questioned the FAA's dual mission of aviation regulation and promotion. But there has not been today's level of government scrutiny on airlines since the industry was deregulated about 30 years ago, said Daniel Petree, dean of the College of Business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

FAA spokeswoman Lynn Tierney said the agency is simply doing its job.