"American, United OK O'Hare Flight Caps"

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

American, United OK O'Hare Flight Caps 
The Associated Press 


CHICAGO - United Airlines and American Airlines are offering to support
temporary flight caps at O'Hare International Airport, but they want
other carriers also to make schedule cuts to ease delays. 

The two airlines, which handle 88 percent of all flights at the Chicago
airport, also want the right to trade arrival times, according to
documents released Monday. 

Meanwhile, smaller airlines are concerned that any flight cuts could
further boost the dominance of American and United and would lead to
less competition and higher ticket prices, according to the documents,
which were submitted Friday to the Federal Aviation Administration. 

Sixteen airlines participated in three days of negotiations in
Washington earlier this month held by the FAA (news - web sites). Agency
officials are trying to ease persistent delays at O'Hare that they say
hamper the nation's entire air system. 

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta had said the meeting was the last
opportunity for airlines to voluntarily solve O'Hare's gridlock before
the government would impose strict flight caps. 

In January, Mineta, American and United announced a voluntary reduction
in daily flight schedules by 5 percent between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m., the
peak time for departures and arrivals. 

The airport continued to rank at the bottom nationally in on-time
performance, forcing an extra 2 1/2 percent reduction, which took effect
in June. The total came to about 90 fewer flights a day for the two
airlines. 

About two-thirds of arrivals at O'Hare have been on-time this year,
compared with the 82 percent systemwide goal the FAA sets.


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