Posted on 07/20/2007 9:04:21 PM PDT by gpapa
No one who has traveled by plane recently needs to be told that our commercial air-travel system is overstretched. Statistics support the anecdotal evidence of crowded airspace, taxiways and airports. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey recently noted that 2006 was the worst year on record for delays and cancellations and that 2007 bids to be worse still. On one day this past week, fewer than half the planes at JFK in New York City were on time. Nationwide for the month of June, more than 30% of all flights were delayed. It's enough to make you think they should just add an hour to every departure time.
That won't work, of course. But we're not sure that firing Ms. Blakey--which is Chuck Schumer's brainstorm for addressing the problem--would be any more effective. Ms. Blakey has been beseeching anyone who will listen to fix some of the problems with the air-travel system since well before this summer's delays put the overcrowding in the headlines and on politicians' agendas.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Perhaps the FAA could request that airlines and airports stop pretending that two or three flights from each of two or three airlines can all take off in the same MINUTE. I see that fantasy on the “Departures” board every single time I’m in an airport.
It would be interesting to compare the lateness of planes in the DC area compared to other major airports.
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