How Fewer Flights at JFK Could Affect You

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The Wall Street Journal

THE MIDDLE SEAT
By SCOTT MCCARTNEY

How Fewer Flights at JFK Could Affect You
The FAA Proposes New Caps On Planes at Key Airport; Low Fares vs. Lengthy Delays
November 6, 2007; Page D1

New York's La Guardia Airport has two runways, and the Federal Aviation Administration says it can handle 81 operations -- takeoffs and landings -- each hour. Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., has three runways and handles 100 operations an hour. New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport has four runways, and yet the FAA now says it can handle only 80 flights per hour. The math doesn't seem quite right. But that was the FAA's opening stand with airlines and others trying to figure out how to avoid another summer travel meltdown next year. The FAA wants to cap traffic at Kennedy by regulating takeoff and landing slots, as it now does at La Guardia. A decision is set to come next month -- and whatever it is, it will affect air traffic across the country.

Under the current voluntary system, the FAA suggests that airlines hew to a limit of 100 operations per hour at JFK, and during some hours, airlines end up scheduling more than that. But this summer, the FAA says it was able to handle an average of only 80 flights per hour at JFK -- causing flights to back up in long lines and resulting in maddening waits. As a result, the FAA has now proposed a mandatory cap of 80 flights per hour. But cut 20 to 25 flights per hour from airline schedules, and New York -- and by extension, the entire U.S. -- would experience a significant change in air service. Six of the 10 most heavily traveled routes in the country touch New York, and the FAA says about one-third of the nation's air traffic passes through New York area airspace.

The problem raises two fundamental questions: Should airlines schedule for sunny days or stormy days? And what's more important, on-time flights or cheap fares? If the FAA restricts traffic, small communities around the country could lose flights connecting to international trips. Growth at airlines such as JetBlue Airways Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. could be grounded, which could lead to less competition -- and higher fares -- on some popular routes.

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Airlines and others, from the governors of New Jersey and New York to hotel and restaurant associations and even the League of American Theaters and Producers, have expressed outrage at what they see as a Draconian limit proposed by the FAA at Kennedy. Curbing air traffic could pinch tourism and regional growth, they say. At the same time, routine lengthy delays can't be acceptable to travelers, either. In August, the three airports with the worst on-time records in the country were all within 21 miles of each other -- Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark. At each one, 40% or more of flights were late.

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At the same time, critics of the FAA plan say there are changes the FAA can make to improve New York traffic flow long before next-generation modernization is put in place a decade or more from now. Mr. DeCota of the Port Authority put together a group of airline, community and industry consultants to find ways to enhance capacity at New York's airports, and the group has come up with about 70 different ideas, he says. They include giving New York some of the new technology -- such as additional departure routes using satellite-based navigation -- already in place in Dallas and Atlanta, installing ground-surveillance radar to better manage aircraft on the ground, building more taxiways, and adding an additional airway in the sky for westbound departures. Some are quick improvements; some are long-term projects. Faced with a similar mess in south Florida two years ago, the FAA appointed an air-traffic "czar" to get the system moving faster. It worked, and some suggest a similar step is in order for New York.

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