"FAA: Cutting JFK flights could worsen Newark delays"

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

FAA: Cutting JFK flights could worsen Newark delays
The Associated Press 


Aviation regulators striving to fix "epidemic" delays at New York's John F.
Kennedy International Airport are worried about potential solutions there
leading to similar problems at other airports in the region, including
Newark Liberty International Airport.

The latest government proposal for reducing congestion at JFK, which had the
worst on-time departure record of any major U.S. airport through August, is
to reduce the hourly flight limit by 20 percent. However, Acting Federal
Aviation Administrator Robert Sturgell said he was "concerned about
spillover" from JFK to nearby airports, such as Newark or New York's
LaGuardia, and the airline industry has pledged to fight the proposal. 

Sturgell, whom President Bush today nominated to become FAA administrator,
and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters addressed airline executives at the
start of a two-day meeting focused on scheduling issues at JFK. Peters
repeated the government's desire for airlines to voluntarily change their
summer 2008 flight schedules in order to alleviate record delays at JFK and
other airports, but also reiterated that schedule reduction mandates remain
an option. 

The Transportation Department last week suggested an hourly limit of 80
flights at JFK, which now has some hours when airlines plan for as many as
100 flights. 

The Air Transport Association, the commercial airlines trade group, and the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs JFK, both criticized
the government's hourly flight target.

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