Limit of 83 per hour intended to reduce delays

As it did earlier at New York’s Kennedy Airport, the Transportation Department now says it has secured agreement from airlines serving Newark Liberty International Airport to “temporarily” cap the number of daily flight operations there, and to spread them out more. The two-year agreement “will allow 30 more flights per day than last summer, while helping to reduce chronic delays,” said Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. Under terms of the agreement, airlines serving Newark – including international as well as domestic operations – will be subject to an hourly ceiling of 83 flights during peak periods. The deal takes effect in early May. She also told an FAA conference that as Newark adds more capacity over time, arrival and departure slots there will be auctioned off by the government. Similar steps might be taken at other airports if the delay situation gets worse, Peters said. At JFK, similar flight caps of 83 per hour are due to begin this month. The government has identified New York-area airports as being responsible for most of the increase in flight delays nationwide in the past year.

Peters also said that the FAA will press ahead this year with its long-term plans to deploy a new satellite-based air navigation system for the nation, replacing the decades-old radar-based system currently in use. DOT said that the first elements of this so-called NextGen system will move “from design to delivery” later this year, with Florida as the first testing ground for the technology. The system will first be installed in Daytona Beach for testing, DOT said; also, the FAA will start using “a new descent technique in Miami that saves fuel, and reduces noise and emissions.” Other new technology from the FAA “will help increase the capacity of airspace along Florida’s Gulf Coast by allowing planes to fly more closely together without compromising safety,” DOT said.