FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, in her farewell address to the aviation industry before she left office last week, called on airlines to cut back schedules to reduce congestion or face government action. In his weekly diatribe against the agency, Boyd Associates’ Mike Boyd said the skies are not crowded, only mismanaged by the FAA. Indeed, its failure to modernize after 40 years of trying has created the problem as well as calls by the outgoing administrator to re-regulate airline scheduling – exactly 30 years after deregulation.
“To be clear, the airlines need to take a step back on the scheduling practices that are at times out of line with reality,” she said. “Passengers are growing weary of schedules that aren’t worth the electrons they’re printed on. Airline schedules have got to stop being the fodder for late-night monologues. And if the airlines don’t address this voluntarily, don’t be surprised when the government steps in.”
Regional Airline Association President Roger Cohen told Regional Aviation News the congestion problem pre-dates the regional jet which has been consistently blamed along with airline scheduling. He attacked those who would blame airline scheduling practices. “This is an effort to blame others for the failure of the nation to upgrade airport and airways infrastructure,” he said. “It’s time to stop looking for people to blame and start fixing the problem even if it means fixing it one delay at a time. It is our job to provide passengers with more options not fewer options… The last time a government made a decision like that it was called Aeroflot.” Related Story