November 15, 2007

East Coast to get airspace 'express lane' for holidays

In hopes of easing a painful air travel holiday season, Washington today announced it "will open unused military airspace from Florida to Maine to create 'a Thanksgiving express lane' for commercial airliners," according to the Associated Press.

The air space would be available for five days around Thanksgiving -- from Wednesday through Sunday -- and again, on as-yet-unspecified days, around Christmas, according to the AP.

Last week, New York magazine's cover story detailed the problems with the major airports serving NYC -- JFK, LaGuardia and Newark -- and its shared airspace, the busiest in the country.

A few dismal facts from the New York magazine report:

- one-third of the nation's airline delays happen in the NY-metro area, but its ripple effect is responsible for 75 percent of the delays across the United States.
- NY airports handled 104 million passengers last year.
- by evening, half of all flights from JFK to LAX arrive late.
- only 57 percent of all flights to Newark land on time.
- only 58 percent of all flights to LaGuardia land on time.
- only 59 percent of allflights to JFK land on time.

Earlier: Limoliner touts 90 pct on-time rate, hates on airlines
NYC-area airport delays worsened in 2006
Port Authority OKs Stewart as NYC's 'fourth airport'
NY airports post worst on-time record in US for 2005

November 15, 2007 04:01 PM in Arrivology

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