"FAA continues flight cap at New York City's LaGuardia airport"

Monday, July 12, 2004

FAA continues flight cap at New York City's LaGuardia airport
The New York (NY) Daily News


The Federal Aviation Administration has extended the "slottery" that
continues a cap on the number of flights to and from LaGuardia Airport.

The extension on the limited number of flight slots at the airport means
flight delays and aircraft noise will not rise dramatically at the
airport over the next 12 months, officials said.

LaGuardia, the nation's third-most-congested airport, will remain under
the extension until October 2005, they added.

"We applaud the FAA for extending the current slot allocation system ...
so that travelers at our airports will not be unduly inconvenienced,"
said Pasquale DiFulco, a spokesman for the Port Authority, which manages
LaGuardia.

In 2000, Congress lifted the ban on the number of flights at LaGuardia
with the passage of legislation known as AIR-21. The bill enabled
airlines to add more flights in underserved markets, mostly upstate, at
low fares.

But in 2001, LaGuardia had earned the nation's number-one rank for
flight delays, and the number of new flights being offered there had to
be capped.

Air travel dropped after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. However,
as airline experts had predicted before that dip, air travel is bound to
grow at a record pace within the decade. How future air traffic is to be
handled at LaGuardia is yet to be determined, and industry analysts must
further explore the limits of AIR-21.


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