FAA: Crowded Skies to Get More Crowded

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070315/crowded-skies

FAA: Crowded Skies to Get More Crowded

LESLIE MILLER | AP | March 15, 2007 05:58 PM EST

WASHINGTON — Airline passengers can expect more delays as airplanes crowd the skies, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday.

The agency expects an average of 1.4 million more takeoffs and landings _ the equivalent of traffic at two Dallas-Fort Worth International Airports _ every year until 2020. In 2006, air traffic controllers handled 61.1 million takeoffs and landings.

"Delays are mounting due to congested airspace and congested airports," said FAA administrator Marion Blakey. "The congestion is really becoming a chronic thing."

Blakey said 2006 was the worst year ever for delays, and 2007 isn't looking any better. Last year, more than 490,000 flights departed or arrived late, she said.

This year, domestic airline ticket prices are expected to increase by 0.4 percent before dropping an average of 0.9 percent annually, the FAA said as part of its annual aviation forecast.

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[DemoTex]

1. 2 big culprits: the ubiquitous 50-pax regional jet and corporate jets.

It take exactly the same air traffic control resources (airspace, airport, controllers) to control a regional jet with 50 passengers (or a corporate Gulfstream with 2 passengers) as it does a Boeing 757 with 175 passengers. I predicted this ATC crunch in the early 1990s in an article for a professional aviation magazine.