"Expect a long, hot summer at U.S. airports"

Friday, June 29, 2007

Expect a long, hot summer at airports 
By James Bernstein 
Newsday (NY)


Air travelers, beware: It's going to be a rough summer.

As carriers fly through the crowded skies, they're battling obstacles all
the way.

Among the major problems as the heavy summer travel seasons begins:

Almost everyone - government officials, aviation experts and airline
executives - agrees that the United States' air-traffic system is antiquated
and one of the major reasons for flight delays.

Software and hardware are often slow to process information and handle the
enormous volume of data flowing through the global airline industry. As a
result, pilots must wait for critical updates on landing, altitude and their
position.

Fewer seats are available these days as some airlines - particularly those
that until a few months ago were operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection, such as Delta, United and Northwest - have grounded some
airplanes in their fleet, sold others or did not accept delivery of new
ones. Adding to the seat shortage is that some airlines are using larger
airplanes for the more lucrative trans-Atlantic flights while putting into
service smaller, more crowded regional jets on domestic routes.

The air-controllers' union contends there are not enough controllers to
staff the towers and air-route centers across the nation, further
aggravating delays.

"All of these elements are creating demands on the [airlines and the
nation's aviation system] that it was not designed to handle," said Robert
W. Mann Jr., an independent analyst and airline consultant. "The system is
being tested to the limits."

For travelers, delays - some of them possibly very lengthy - are a
certainty, officials said.

"We've hit bottom," said Alan Bender, a professor at Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. "It's now an extremely
unpleasant experience. But I don't see it getting worse, unless, of course,
we have a real bad summer weatherwise."

Airlines are gearing up for the crowds, said Chuck Imhoff, vice president at
American Airlines for the greater New York area. About a year and a half
ago, American opened a $1.3 billion terminal at Kennedy Airport designed to
process 1,600 arriving international passengers an hour.

American also has added a few hundred employees to help handle baggage and
other matters and recently began something new - curbside check-ins for
international flights.

"I would say we're going to be as busy, if not more so, than last year,"
Imhoff said.

But, airline experts say, the system is only going to get busier. Now, about
750 million people fly in the U.S. each year, the Federal Aviation
Administration said. The FAA estimates that by 2015, air travel is expected
to top 1 billion passengers a year.

The nation's air-traffic control system was established more than 40 years
ago, and while there have been upgrades, the system struggles under the
weight of busy airports and airlines that are swallowing more markets. Said
Darrell Jenkins, an aviation professor at Ohio State University: "It's a
system that only a mother could love."

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