Shortly before airlines meet with FAA and DOT tomorrow, the Department of Transportation said it wants operations at New York’s JFK to be capped at 80 flights per hour from 6 a.m. to 9:59 p.m. local time daily, except for 3 p.m. to 7:59 p.m., when the target will be 81 flights. There are some hours in which there are 100 flights per hour.
To efficiently space flights throughout an entire hour, the department also set a 30-minute maximum of total flights at 44 and the 15-minute maximum at 24 flights. In addition, to evenly spread demand for both arrivals and departures and to make the best use of the airport’s runway configuration, the number of arrivals or departures may not exceed 53 in any one hour period, 29 in any 30-minute period or 16 in any 15-minute period, Secretary Peters said. Related Story
To set the targets, the FAA reviewed hourly arrivals and departures from July 2005 through July 2007. The review determined an increase in capacity, from 74 operations per hour between July 2005 and June 2006 to 81 from February through July 2007. However, during the same period, airlines increased their operations at JFK by more than 40 percent, causing on-time arrival performance at the airport to slip to 59 percent in July 2007, it said.
Meanwhile, airline groups are doing what they can to cope. “This is a disappointing decision,: said ATA President and CEO James C. May. "Slashing operations at JFK alone will not solve the congestion problem but will shut the door on growth for our country’s leading international gateway. We know that there are better solutions to New York’s capacity needs and we are committed to working with FAA to put them into effect.” The Wall Street Journal reported that airlines want military airspace opened up when thunderstorms impact the U.S. gateway. The Associated Press also reported the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey offered up 17 other suggestions for addressing congestion. Finally, the International Air Transport Association offered up its worldwide scheduling guidelines for coping with congested airports and said peak pricing will not work.
"Putting a 'no vacancy' sign on one airport isn't a solution to the flight delay problem," Port Authority Spokesperson Steve Sigmund told AP. "The right thing for the FAA to do is to implement long-term solutions to meet demand and expand capacity."