Several major U.S. carriers will meet with U.S. Federal Aviation Administration officials later this month to address scheduling practices at two New York-area airports, the agency said.
The meeting is scheduled to take place Oct. 23 and 24 to discuss scheduling at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, with the goal of reaching a voluntary agreement that would reduce flight delays. A Reuters report said U.S. airlines including American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue and US Airways would take part in the meeting.
The move would follow President George W. Bush's enlistment of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to confer with the aviation industry and report by year-end with more immediate solutions
(BTN, Oct. 8).
"Our first choice is to find market-based incentives to fix delays so we can preserve passenger choice, but we will consider imposing scheduling restrictions as one option to avoid a repeat of this summer's delays," Peters said.
There is precedent for voluntary agreement with carriers to alter scheduling to ease delays: In 2004, several domestic carriers reached an agreement with the government to limit peak-hour arrivals at Chicago O'Hare International Airport to reduce congestion
(BTN, Sept. 6, 2004). Should that fail, the government could turn to such moves as government-mandated flight reductions, the establishment of new capacity caps and congestion pricing.