...ATA: No LaGuardia “Experiment”

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA) says “it is truly mystifying, with the airline industry in a financial meltdown due to overwhelming fuel prices, that DOT decides now is the time for a costly economics experiment at LaGuardia. It is even more ridiculous considering the DOT’s highly suspect claim of legal authority it has just ‘discovered’ after decades of concluding the opposite. ATA President and CEO James C. May said “the solution to delays in New York is not figuring out how to charge airlines and their passengers more, as DOT proposes, but rather getting on with modernizing the antiquated air traffic control system. DOT is wasting time and precious financial resources in ‘experimenting’ with increased costs to drive down demand. This proposal means fewer choices, higher costs and a reduction in service to smaller communities. The public does not want that, the Port Authority does not want that, and the airlines do not want that. What the DOT has proposed will do nothing to reduce delays.” He added.