John Carr, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Subj: Official Sees Fewer Airline Delays
Date: 09/28/2000 4:39:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: AOL News
BCC: Pat Noble
Official Sees Fewer Airline Delays
.c The Associated Press
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
WASHINGTON (AP) - Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater said Thursday he
hopes that the lessons of a frustrating summer travel season should help to
ensure that the public will not suffer through similar delays next year.
It'll be better ``because of the lessons we've learned, because of the
resources we're going to expend to expand the capacity of the system and also
because of the attention that's being brought to the matter,'' he said after
the latest in a series of congressional hearings on the matter.
Delayed and canceled flights caused by weather and air traffic control
problems, as well as a pilot dispute at United Airlines, made this summer the
worst in five years, according to Federal Aviation Administration statistics.
The FAA reported 47,893 delayed flights in August, up from 44,430 in July but
below the record 50,114 recorded in June.
However, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey told the House Transportation
subcommittee that bad weather accounted for 70 percent of the flight delays
and cancellations this summer. <snip>
Many lawmakers, who have to fly between Washington and their home districts
every week, had their own stories about being stuck on airplanes waiting for
takeoff and hearing from angry constituents. <snip>
Slater and Garvey said an aviation bill passed in April will help in the
future. That law will allow the purchase of new air traffic controller
equipment and help pay for new airport construction. The law also includes
FAA management reform provisions to ensure that the money is used
effectively. <snip>
But airlines think more should be done. ``Its clear that in the long term, we
need fundamental reform of the air traffic control system,'' said Donald
Carty, American Airlines CEO and chairman of the Executive Committee of the
Air Transport Association. ``We need to find ways to bring private sector
disciplines to bear on the delivery of air traffic control.''
Air traffic controllers say that won't do any good. ``Privatization will not
speed up the process of building new runways and airports,'' said John Carr,
president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. ``Safe,
reliable, user accepted equipment will not be developed and installed any
faster. Privatization would, instead, fracture the delicate balance of a work
force that holds the system together.''
Carr blamed airlines for scheduling too many flights at crowded airports
during the peak flying hours.
``Schedules are blindly made to reduce operating costs and maximize revenue
without regard for other airlines, terminal airspace or airport capacity,''
he said. ``At peak times, dozens of planes are simultaneously taxiing for
take off or queuing above the airport in a finite amount of terminal
airspace.''
Pat Noble
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