U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters today outlined proposals and finalized rules to help curb aviation delays, offer more information to travelers making air-purchasing decisions and further coordinate safety requirements between the federal government and airlines.
Among the hodgepodge of initiatives, Peters said the Department of Transportation plans to require airlines and travel agents to disclose fees many airlines have imposed to check a second bag "in their Internet and print ads and before anyone purchases a ticket." Many of the largest U.S. carriers in recent months have implemented such fees, which along with other ancillary revenue generators are complicating travel management
(BTNonline, April 28).
DOT today also issued a final rule that requires carriers to "to report new and more complete data on the time passengers spend on the tarmac." Prior to the rule, carriers were not required to report complete delay information, including instances when planes depart the gate more than once, flights are cancelled after leaving the gate or flights are diverted to another airport. "Passengers should know whether it will take as long for their flight to get to the runway as it will to land at their destination," Peters said.
Some of today's proposals today stem from a White House directive last year that aimed to reduce air traffic congestion and flight disruptions, and head off a repeat of last summer's delay-ridden travel season
(BTNonline, Oct. 8, 2007). Peters said the focus has been on the New York City airspace, where three-quarters of airline delays are rooted and where several of today's announcements were targeted.
Among those, DOT today finalized a proposal issued in March to cap flights at Newark to 83 scheduled flights per hour beginning in June and staying in effect until October of next year
(BTNonline, March 10). Newark is the third New York-area airport to recently become subject to flight caps, following similar restrictions at neighboring JFK and LaGuardia airports. Peters said the plan will spread flights more evenly throughout the day at Newark, though DOT still will allow "an additional 30 operations per day than what was offered at the airport last summer."
Noting that capping capacity alone "would likely deliver fewer delays, but would certainly bring stagnant service, limited consumer choices and increased fares," Peters said DOT is proposing to auction slots at JFK and Newark under several schemes, the prevailing of which will be determined through the rulemaking process.
Peters today also said DOT plans to "invest $2 million for a new study to look at ways to add transit connections to New York's Stewart Airport, which is located approximately 90 miles north of Manhattan," to further take some of the burden off of the city's three primary airports.
Meanwhile, Secretary Peters encouraged airlines, aircraft manufacturers and the Federal Aviation Administration to bolster communication and improve procedures on aircraft inspections to avoid flight disruptions, such as those that crippled American Airlines' MD-80 operations and forced several airlines to cancel flights in late March and early April
(BTNonline, April 10).