FlightStats, a tracker of airline on-time performance data, told
BTN that the U.S. Department of Transportation need not delay a requirement for airlines to post flight delay information on their Web sites, with an executive noting, "The airlines are begging for an extension for something that I will give them for free now."
FlightStats vice president of business development Meara McLaughlin said the firm plans to formally file its offer in the DOT docket as part of a public comment period ending March 25, after which DOT will decide whether to extend by 45 days to June 14 the new reporting requirements for airlines
(BTNonline, March 11).
McLaughlin told
BTN, "Any airline that is sending me, in any format they have, their real-time flight info, I will give them for free a fully DOT-compliant flat data set that includes every one of their operated and every one of their marketed flights in exactly the rating format that the DOT is requiring. Done. Game over. Now, all they have to do is design how they put it in their screens."
DOT's proposal last week to offer an extension followed a number of complaints led by airline lobbying groups, chief among them the Air Transport Association, which last month told DOT its members would need on average five-and-a-half months to comply with the new mandate, putting their compliance well beyond the original April 29 deadline
(BTNonline, Feb. 2).