"Opinion: Upgrades needed to avert widespread U.S. airport gridlock"

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Opinion
Upgrades needed to avert widespread airport gridlock
The Billings (MT) Gazette


The biggest thing soaring from the nation's airports these days is the
astonishing level of airline delays - the highest number in at least 13
years. And experts say that the delays will likely get worse in the months
ahead.

Last week, The Department of Transportation reported that the airline
industry's on-time performance over the first six months of 2007 was the
worst since 1995, when the federal agency began collecting data. In June,
nearly one of three domestic flights on major U.S. airlines ran late,
arriving at the gate 15 minutes later than scheduled.

It is a situation that is costing the nation dearly every day - in lost
productivity, wasted fuel and time, frustrated and fatigued flight crews and
angry, exasperated passengers.

Travelers catching flights from Billings, Bozeman, Casper or other cities in
our region are no strangers to the world of delays as their flights take
them to crowded hubs in Salt Lake City, Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle and
other metro areas.

We hope you were not on one of the 925 flights in that six-month period that
sat for at least three hours awaiting an "all-clear" for takeoff. Almost
half of those three-hour nightmares came in June.

The reasons behind the delays are many and complicated, government and
airline officials say:

   . America's demand for air travel is increasing. According to the
Regional Airline Association of Washington, D.C., regional airlines served
155.7 million passengers last year. That's a 38 percent increase over 2003.

   . Major airlines and regional carriers have moved to 40- to 80-seat jets.
Those jets are easier to fill and leave fewer empty seats on board.

   . As the number of flights increases, so does congestion, and the skies
around large cities are especially crowded.

   . Rotten weather has buffeted and slowed many a flight.

   . Airlines, many emerging from bankruptcy, cancel flights because they
don't have sufficient staff to operate them.

   . The nation lacks a sophisticated, satellite-based air traffic control
system.

This situation has to improve. The air-traffic control system must be
modernized, moving away from the radar-based system to one utilizing
satellites. That's been much talked about, but funding remains a stumbling
block. More runways must be built. Terminals and baggage handling facilities
must be enlarged and equipped to handle this surge in traffic.

If action isn't taken to make these infrastructure upgrades, delays will
grow more numerous and America will suffer the consequences of an inadequate
air travel system.

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