IndiaPost.com - Bill to protect Newark airport from flight delays

NEW YORK: In anticipation of President George W. Bush’s announcement to cap flights into New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) have introduced a bill to reduce delays and congestion for air travelers across the entire New Jersey-New York region, one of the busiest in the nation for national and international air travel as well as air freight.

Travelers to and from India are sure to get affected by any changes at either JFK or Newark since most flights from India to the US east coast including the daily and non-stop daily flights are routed to either JFK or Newark. "Travelers are tired of being inconvenienced with flights that are delayed or flat-out cancelled.

The Bush Administration’s expected proposal won’t fix the problem — it could take the region’s air delay problems and push them on Newark Airport," Senator Frank R. Lautenberg said. "I will not let the Bush Administration dump New York’s excess flights — and the problems they create — onto New Jersey." "A narrow approach to this regional problem will make the delays and safety issues at Newark that much worse," said Senator Menendez. "Unless the plan for JFK is matched with a plan for Newark, it will force traffic to route to Newark, an airport that is already busting at the seams.

That’s a recipe for disaster, and we are standing up to make sure a more sensible approach is implemented." The White House is expected to make a major announcement this week about air travel in the New Jersey - New York region. A report by an Administration advisory committee recently recommended that the White House consider options such as flight caps at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York, mandatory auctioning off of landing slots, or mandatory ‘congestion pricing’ (meaning higher prices for landing slots during peak hours).

While Bush Administration officials have freely discussed options for limiting flights into JFK, none have made commitments or taken official action to alleviate congestion at Newark, the New Jersey Senators feel. Newark is already the most delayed airport in the country, but could suffer additional delays if air traffic seeking access to the New York New Jersey market is unable to fly into JFK due to new federal restrictions, they say. In comparison to the White House’s piecemeal approach, the Senators’ bill would force the FAA to take a regional approach when addressing delay and congestion problems with the major airports in the New Jersey - New York region, which are all operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The bill will "prohibit the Secretary of Transportation and the FAA from taking any action which will limit commercial air traffic from one airport operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey but not all such airports, without the consent of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey." In other words, the DOT or FAA cannot do anything to one airport that would adversely affect another, such as cap flights at JFK and force these excess flights into the region’s other airports like Newark.

Last year, Newark had the worst delays in the nation. Flights into Newark arrived on time only 62 percent of the time for the month of October, one of the lowest arrival percentages in the nation, according to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). Last week, Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell arguing that limiting flights into JFK will push all excess flights into Newark. This will create more delays and problems for travelers than if the FAA offered a regional solution for all airports under the Port Authority’s control.

In a separate statement, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) said, "We put the Administration on notice and they got the message: New Jersey deserves equal treatment. The Bush Administration is finally paying attention to the endless delays at Newark Airport. While this plan is only a band-aid on the much bigger safety and noise problems we face in our region and across the country, it’s certainly a start. We will continue to make sure the FAA takes a regional approach to addressing flight delays and doesn’t thrust New York’s problems onto New Jersey."