WASHINGTON — Despite President Bush’s personal intervention, American travelers stuck in one of the air-traffic system’s choke points remained skeptical the government would be able to avert serious flight delays over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Bush announced a series of technical measures Thursday to reduce air-traffic congestion and long delays that have left passengers stranded and turned holiday travel into “a season of dread for too many Americans.” Among the most innovative: opening two lanes of restricted military airspace off the East Coast to commercial airlines from 4 p.m. EST Wednesday through the following Sunday.
“It’s probably a good idea, but are the airlines going to be able to handle it?” asked Dawn East, 52, as she waited at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport for her flight to Miami, which had been delayed for two hours. “It’s not a problem of the lanes up there. It’s an industry problem. There’s no efficiency.”
Many of Bush’s moves were aimed at New York airports, whose congestion plays a role in 75 percent of the flight delays nationwide.
In a year of record delays, Bush declared that “business as usual is not good enough for American travelers.”
Opening two lanes of military airspace offshore will supplement the dozen air routes regularly used from Florida to New England and create “a Thanksgiving express lane” for commercial airliners during the busiest days of Thanksgiving travel.
For the second time since September, when he ordered the Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration to come up with solutions, Bush personally intervened in the intractable problem of air congestion that previous presidents avoided and many aviation experts believe has only long-term solutions.
Crowded airports, stranded passengers and delayed flights “carry some real costs for the country,” Bush said, “not just in the inconvenience they cause but in the business they obstruct and family gatherings they cause people to miss.”
Bush’s moves were applauded by trade groups representing the airlines and airports but derided as ineffective by air- traffic controllers who said their ranks have been thinned too much to handle the holiday crush efficiently.
The pilots union called some long-term steps too drastic.
Democrats in Congress characterized Bush’s actions as “better late than never,” in the words of Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., House aviation subcommittee chairman, and not nearly enough in the view of Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Even Transportation Secretary Mary Peters acknowledged, “If we get an ice storm on the eastern seaboard, it probably won’t be pretty.”
Through September, more than 24 percent of U.S. flights arrived late, the worst on-time performance since comparable data began being collected in 1995.
And in these Transportation Department figures, “on time” means less than 15 minutes late.
Many of the new moves also will be in effect for Christmas, but some of the short-term steps Bush announced – like doubling the penalties airlines have to pay passengers bumped from overbooked flights – won’t take place until next summer at the earliest.
Easing the crunch
- The Pentagon will open unused military airspace from Florida to Maine.
- The Transportation Department will propose an increased bump fee that airlines must pay to ticketed travelers who wind up without a seat.
- A holiday moratorium on nonessential maintenance.
- An FAA website, www.fly.faa.gov, is to provide updated information about delays; passengers can have notices sent to mobile phones.
