The city's three area airports had the worst rates of flight delays in the nation in August, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, further highlighting the recognized need for change in the airports and the air traffic control system.
John F. Kennedy International Airport, La Guardia Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport placed 30, 31, and 32 in arrival delays among the country's 32 major airports.
"The skies above New York are more clogged and congested than ever," Senator Schumer said in a release yesterday.
La Guardia's on-time arrival rate dropped to 57.6% in August from 68% a year ago, JFK's rate fell to 58.7% from 69.6%, and Newark's rate fell to 62% from 65.9%.
The average on-time arrival rate of the nation's 20 largest carriers fell to 71.1% from 75.8%.
President Bush has asked Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to lead a task force to come up with recommendations for reducing the congestion by the end of 2007. Ms. Peters has said she is considering a congestion pricing plan to charge airlines higher fees to land their planes during peak hours.
However, in a letter to Ms. Peters and the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Marion Blakey last month, the Port Authority said that "capacity limits cannot be a substitute for large-scale technology enhancements." The authority also said it welcomes the FAA's move toward GPS radar tracking, urging that the administration make the New York region "its first priority for implementation of the new technology."
The Port Authority has formed its own task force, which began meeting in August and will issue recommendations in December. Part of this comprehensive plan will include the use of Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, which the Port Authority acquired in January for $78.5 million.
A senior transportation fellow at the Regional Plan Association, Jeffrey Zupan, said Stewart Airport should be one part of the solution but that because it is not where the travel needs are it will not be enough to pick up the slack.
