FAA orders carriers, airports to gear up for more traffic
Bloomberg News Service
WASHINGTON — Airlines will be required to spend billions of dollars on equipment, and airports will have to build more runways, under a U.S. plan to reduce delays and handle a projected 30 percent increase in flights by 2010.
The Federal Aviation Administration's $11.5 billion blueprint is designed to avoid a repeat of last year, when more than 25 percent of all flights were delayed, canceled or diverted.
"The most significant challenge we have is to get everybody to work together to solve these problems," the FAA's acting deputy chief, Monte Belger, said in outlining the goals. The plan calls for new runways at 14 of the biggest 31 U.S. airports and would require AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, the biggest carrier, to spend almost $1 billion over 10 years.
The agency seeks to use more satellite systems, let planes fly closer together and allow flights in additional airspace to accommodate another 11,000 daily departures on top of the 31,000 on a typical day today.
The $11.5 billion, which needs congressional and White House approval, doesn't include local spending on runways.
The FAA proposal calls for satellite technology that would let planes fly closer to each another over oceans and, by 2004, fly closer vertically. It would have routine controller-pilot communication by data link, instead of voice, to reduce the workload for air crews and ground controllers.
Cockpit displays would help pilots navigate runways more efficiently. Improved weather sensors and displays would let pilots and controllers plan routes around storms more quickly.
Some air-traffic control centers would be merged, including those in the New York area, to make it easier for controllers to work with one another, the FAA said.
Belger said the plan is unique because it links equipment needs, local issues such as new runways and air-traffic procedures in one plan. The document is fluid, meaning it can be changed as needed in coming months and years, he said.
The plan was released as the Department of Transportation announced that major U.S. airlines completed 79.3 percent of their flights on time in April, the best performance in 17 months.
The on-time performance rose to the highest level since a 81.4 percent rate in November 1999, the monthly report by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics showed. The on-time rate climbed from 75.2 percent in March, and 75.4 percent in the year-earlier April. Continental Airlines Inc. scored the highest among major airlines with 85.7 percent.
The improved results were released one day before chief executives of major U.S. carriers arrive in Washington to update Congress on the industry's efforts to improve service.
Alaska Air Group Inc.'s 71 percent on-time arrival rate was the lowest among major carriers. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines was next to last at 71.5 percent. The agency counts flights as "on time" if they arrive within 15 minutes of their published schedule.
