Panel doesn't expect letup in air traffic congestion
Recent report calls for capping the number of flights out of New York, more steps to ease delays.
As House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., warned that "public patience is running short" with airlines, his panel's Aviation Subcommittee members Wednesday voiced pessimism about easing air traffic congestion.
A recent report from the Transportation Department's inspector general, Calvin Scovell, praised Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and President Bush for taking steps to ease congestion, such as capping the number of flights out of New York's Kennedy International Airport and Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport, but said the FAA needed to take more steps to ease congestion as the summer travel season ramps up.
The report suggested DOT negotiate a plan with the Defense Department for use of "special use airspace" to open up additional lanes; update capacity benchmarks for major airports, which has not been done since 2004; train large numbers of new controllers and address controller productivity, and improve taxi-way use.
The report singled out several airports for concern during the summer. Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello, D-Ill., wondered how Northwest Airlines expected to get 56 scheduled departures out on time in a 15-minute window from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.
DOT General Counsel D.J. Gribbin said the department had been penalizing airlines for chronically delayed flights, but Scovell said that the department's approach leaves "much to be desired," and told Costello he knew of no instance of DOT taking legal action against airlines that engage in "deceptive practices," such as scheduling chronically delayed flights, since 2001.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., attacked Gribbin for what he saw was the department's "proposing to propose" to take action, and accused officials of waiting to hand the problem off to a new administration. He said the idea of letting the free market play out was not working.
"Why do we fear regulation so much?" he said, suggesting forcing airlines to notify customers of chronically delayed flights at point of purchase and letting customers know of hidden fees, such as meals and additional luggage checking.
Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member John Mica blamed the Senate for not passing an FAA reauthorization bill, and chided the Senate for not voting to confirm Robert Sturgell as FAA administrator.
Mica said that anyone who thinks progress is coming "is smoking the funny weed."