"Air Traffic Delays Up in August"

Friday, September 22, 2000

Air Traffic Delays Up in August


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Airline delays increased again in August, after tapering
off a bit earlier this summer, the Federal Aviation Administration said
Friday.

The agency reported 47,893 delayed flights for the month, up from 44,430 in
July but below the record 50,114 recorded in June.

The August total was also well above the 37,189 delayed flights in August a
year earlier.

Delayed and canceled flights have proved a major annoyance this summer with
weather and air traffic control problems. A pilot dispute at United Airlines
also lead to many canceled flights.

The problems grew to the level that congressional hearings were called.
Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater called a summit meeting of airline
officials and announced that a task force will begin monitoring their
performance.

In August, 33,339 airline delays were recorded due to weather. That is
slightly from July but still very high historically, the FAA said. There
were 34,611 weather-related delays a month earlier.

``Thunderstorms in August continued to have an adverse impact on the
National Airspace System just as they did in June and July,'' the agency
said, noting that during the month the National Weather Service issued 5,234
thunderstorm warnings, a 10 percent increase over August of 1999.

Another major cause of delays was simply the increasing volume of flights as
more and more people want to fly. Often, more flights are scheduled at the
same time than an airport can handle.

The 5,397 delays due to volume were up from 3,376 last August and 4,106 in
July of this year.

The FAA said this reflects the increase in traffic at the busiest airports,
particularly New York City's La Guardia, where flights there were up 4.5
percent over August of 1999.

``When an airport that is scheduled over its capacity for portions of the
day receives even a small amount of additional flights, it will usually
experience a dramatic increase both in delays and their duration,'' the FAA
said.

Delays in the other or miscellaneous category totaled 5,745, up from 3,365
in July. The FAA said this was primarily due to restrictions on the use of
``land and hold short'' operations at some major airports. Some 1,831 delays
were attributed to this in August.

Land and hold short is a system under which arriving pilots stops before
crossing another runway, to allow another plane to depart. This can increase
traffic at an airport, but it has been eliminated at some airports where
pilots contend it may not be safe.

Other delay causes listed in August were equipment problems, 452, up from
217 a month earlier, and runways, 2,960, up from 2,139 in July.

The total number of flights in August was 14,911,621, up from 14,588,822 a
month earlier.

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