Arthur Frommer pens a "rant"

[AnnInLa]

http://www.frommers.com/blog/


Corporate jets, whose passengers are on ego trips, are a major reason for our worsening skies
The nightly news on TV, and the press in general, are full of anxious stories about our over-crowded skies. The air control system is stressed beyond its limits, the average flight delay is more than hour, the delays themselves are historic in number, and more and more passengers are left to sweat for hours within aircraft parked on the tarmac. Complete meltdowns of our air traffic control system occur with distressing frequency.

And why? The TV commentators and the newspaper reporters will refer, vaguely, to "crowded skies," the increased use of air transportation, the budget airlines starting up all the time, the use of small, 80-passenger regional planes in place of the larger 250-passenger jets, adding to the number of aircraft that need to be cleared for flights, take-offs and landings.

Not a single one of them, as best I can recall, makes mention of corporate jets flying one or two exalted CEOs on ego trips to a business meeting (coupled, you can bet, with a round or two of golf). Recent reports indicate that in many urban centers of the United States, small corporate jets account for as many as 30% of the airplanes for which take-off, landing and flight space must be set aside. However small these corporate jets may be, however few the passengers in them, they require just as much air space as a 250-passenger jet, and just as much attention by air traffic control.

Why do we tolerate this? As Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines are forced to cancel dozens of flights because of the overcrowded skies, disturbing the travel plans of tens of thousands, why do we permit CEOs to commandeer company jets for trips that could just as easily have been accomplished in a passenger plane?

Why do we cater to their need for luxury, for avoiding the security searches at airports that the rest of us undergo? Shouldn't Congress take up the subject before our air traffic gets totally out of control?