FAA Moves to Stem Summer Delays

In an effort to avoid a repeat of last summer when delays were the worst in history, the FAA is expanding its airspace flow program using a new program to identify bad weather areas, search flight plans to see which ones will be affected and then offer airlines the choice of accepting an expected departure time or a longer route around the storm. FAA has also imposed a new software program called “adaptive compression” which automatically identifies slots that might go unused and moves other flights into those slots. Both American and Delta have praised the program which, said FAA, saved airlines 3,000 minutes of delay in April. The agency estimates the programs will save $100 million annually. Last year’s imposition of 36 airspace flow programs on 19 days from June through August realized a 21 percent reduction in delays. This year it is adding eleven new locations, distributed throughout the center of the country, to the seven it deployed last year to manage delays in severe weather. The program covers the East and Midwest from Canada to Mexico. Delays between January and April topped 142,000, up from the we had 126,000 delays in the year-ago period. In 2006, there were more than 500,000 delays of 15 minutes or more.