DOT slammed from all sides for plan to cap JFK flights

Last week, in preparation for a meeting with airlines and airport officials about the massive delay problem at New York’s JFK Airport, the Transportation Department suggested a limit of 80 to 81 flight arrivals and departures per hour, vs. current schedules that list up to 100 flights an hour at Kennedy. The agency hopes this could be achieved on a voluntary basis by cooperation among airlines serving JFK, but it has not ruled out mandatory caps, and has also raised the possibility of congestion pricing, making it more expensive for airlines to operate at JFK during peak periods. No firm solutions came out of that meeting – but a unified campaign against the DOT plan quickly emerged.


Led by the Air Transport Association – the airlines’ trade group – a large coalition had formed by week’s end to oppose the DOT plans. Also lining up against the proposed caps on flight activity were the governors of New York and New Jersey; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; the Air Line Pilots Association; the Business Travel Coalition, representing corporate travel managers; the Air Travelers Association, a passengers’ group; and several other groups – even the League of American Theatres & Producers. The brunt of the arguments against flight caps at JFK is that the government instead should focus on increasing capacity there, by various methods such as accelerating deployment of its planned New York Airspace Redesign, which will change routing patterns in the region; and installing the long-planned satellite-based air navigation system to replace the old radar-based system. New York and New Jersey argued that JFK can actually accommodate up to 115 flights an hour, not the 80 suggested by DOT. Several parties argued that flight caps and congestion pricing would hurt consumers by limiting their options and raising their fares. And the Air Travelers Association suggested that passengers could help reduce congestion and delays at JFK by changing their travel habits – e.g., booking flights that operate during non-rush hours; using alternate New York-area airports like Islip or Stewart; and flying on weekends instead of weekdays.

Meanwhile, in addition to considering a possible cap of flights at JFK, the Transportation Department is also thinking about imposing heavy fines on airlines for flights that are chronically late – i.e., at least 15 minutes late more than 70 percent of the time, according to an Associated Press story last week. An agency official told the news service that the FAA has identified 26 such flights in the past quarter, and said the airlines involved could face “significant financial penalties” for deceptive business practices.