Bush Administration Set to Reduce Holiday Air Delays
Published on Modernagent: November 16, 2007
President Bush and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced several new measures to reduce air travel delays over the upcoming holiday season. President Bush said that the military will make available some of its airspace over the East Coast for use by civilian airliners this Thanksgiving. These new routes will help relieve air congestion from Maine to Florida for nearly five full days surrounding the holiday. He also said that the Department of Transportation (DOT) is imposing a holiday moratorium on all non-essential projects, so that the FAA can focus its personnel and equipment exclusively on keeping flights on time. The FAA is also partnering with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to reduce bottlenecks in the New York metro area. Authorities will make a series of operational adjustments — such as new procedures that will increase the number of planes that can land at the busy JFK and Newark airports in bad weather and implementing a moratorium on non-essential maintenance and operations — to keep the air travel system running at full capacity.
These policy changes will increase airspace and airport efficiency and help reduce delays caused by weather and holiday congestion, Secretary Peters said. In addition, President Bush said that the federal government is using the Internet to provide real-time updates on flight delays. He said that the government is also proposing to double the amount of compensation passengers receive when they are forced off over-booked flights.
The DOT also issued new proposals to increase passenger rights and protections before the next winter travel season. These include a new proposal to require airlines to create legally binding contingency plans for extended tarmac delays, respond to all consumer complaints within 30 days, publish complaint information online, and provide on-time performance information for their international flights in addition to their domestic flights. Secretary Peters also announced that the DOT is proposing to require airlines to include all cancelled flights and tarmac delays in their monthly delay reports, something they are not currently required to do. In addition, the department is issuing a second notice of proposed rulemaking to increase the required financial compensation for passengers involuntarily “bumped” from their flights.
The Air Transport Association of America (ATA) applauded the administration’s efforts to improve air service and reduce delays. Continental Airlines also issued a statement applauding the moves. For more information, visit www.dot.gov, www.fly.faa.gov or www.whitehouse.gov.
