"Feds propose flight scheduling limit at JFK airport"'

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Feds propose flight scheduling limit at JFK airport
By DAVID B. CARUSO
The Associated Press


U.S. transportation officials say that delay-plagued John F. Kennedy
International Airport shouldn't try to handle more than 80 takeoffs or
landings per hour, substantially fewer than are now scheduled for some peak
travel times. 

JFK now has some hours when airlines plan for as many as 100 flights, a
number that nearly everyone agrees is more than the congested hub can
handle, even in ideal weather. 

Airline officials are slated to meet with the Federal Aviation
Administration this month to talk about possible reductions in the airport's
schedule. 

The Department of Transportation said late Friday that it had suggested an
hourly cap of 80 flights as a starting point for those discussions. It also
proposed a target of no more than 44 flights in any given half-hour, or 24
during any 15 minute period. 

It's unclear how authorities would ration flight slots in instances where
competing airlines wished to fly more planes than the cap allowed. U.S.
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has said she favors "market-based"
solutions to the delay problem, but might consider mandatory scheduling
restrictions. 

The proposed 80-flight cap was criticized by the Air Transport Association
of America, an group that represents commercial air carriers, and by the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that runs JFK. 

"This is a disappointing decision," the group's president, James May, said
in a written statement. "Slashing operations at JFK alone will not solve the
congestion problem but will shut the door on growth for our country's
leading international gateway." 

PA spokesman Steve Sigmund said his bi-state agency had provided the FAA
with 17 other suggestions on handling congestion earlier this year. 

"Putting a `No Vacancy' sign on one airport isn't a solution to the flight
delay problem," Sigmund said. "The right thing for the FAA to do is to
implement long-term solutions to meet demand and expand capacity." 

Airlines have been asking aviation officials to take other steps to relieve
congestion, including flight-path changes and technological improvements
they say could increase the airport's capacity. 

A few airlines operating at JFK, however, have also called for some
temporary caps on flights until those other solutions emerge, including its
biggest domestic carrier, JetBlue. 

JetBlue CEO David Barger asked the FAA in a letter last June to consider
imposing flight slot controls "during all hours when scheduled operations
exceed the balanced average capacity of the airport." 

Such restrictions on flights used to be the norm at JFK. 

Until last January, the FAA limited flight activity between 3 p.m. and 8
p.m., the airport's busiest period, and the time when it is handling the
most international flights. 

Even before those restrictions were lifted, the number of scheduled flights
_ and the number of delays _ had begun to soar. 

In August, only 59 percent of arrivals and 63 percent of departures at JFK
were on time, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. During the
same month a year ago, nearly 70 percent of arrivals and 72 percent of
departures were on time.

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