After extensive analysis and public hearings in five states — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut — the FAA identified its preferred airspace redesign alternative for the New York area, combining high-altitude and low-altitude airspace to create more efficient arrival and departure routes. The preferred plan was issued its new airspace design for the New York and Philadelphia airspace. The plan is one of four being considered by the agency.
“This new concept in airspace design will help us handle the rapidly growing number of flights in the Northeast in a much more efficient way,” said FAA Administrator Marion Blakey. “This airspace has been unchanged since the 1960s, and we need to look at creative new ways to avoid delays.”
The plan, known as the Integrated Airspace Alternative, would reduce the complexity of the current air traffic system operation in the New York area and Philadelphia by more efficiently directing aircraft to and from major airports in the two metropolitan areas.
The FAA identified the preferred alternative as part of the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign environmental process. The preferred alternative would save an estimated 12 million minutes of delay annually for the four major metropolitan airports — Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and Philadelphia.
The agency expects to publish the final Environmental Impact Statement and issue a Record of Decision on how to proceed with the airspace redesign project, late this summer. A series of five informational meetings, one in each study area state, will be held this month and in early May to discuss noise mitigation associated with the preferred alternative.