FAA Looks to Cap JFK Flights at 80-81 Per Hour
If enforced, airlines will have to make significant cuts to their schedules.
Oct. 22, 2007 — -- FAA will attempt to cap flights at New York Kennedy Airport at 81 an hour during afternoon peak times, which appears to mean airlines will have to make significant cuts to existing schedules.
The agency released its targets Friday afternoon and will use them during an airline scheduling conference planned Oct. 23-24. During closed-door sessions, airlines will be asked to volunteer flight cuts to meet the flight limits.
FAA said it is looking to limit JFK operations to 80 flights an hour between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., and 81 flights an hour between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Additionally, targets were set for 30 and 15 minute blocks - 44 and 24 operations, respectively. Neither the arrival total nor departure total can exceed 53 an hour, to balance runway operations.
As an example of current levels, on the evening of Oct. 18 there were two hour-long periods - 5 p.m.-6 p.m. and 8 p.m.-9 p.m. - where there were about 90 operations, according to FAA data.
As well flight caps, the Bush Administration appears to be moving toward some kind of congestion pricing model. In testimony to Congress last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters gave her strongest endorsement yet for congestion pricing.
"Congestion pricing has worked exceptionally well in other areas of our economy, such as highways, electricity and telecommunications, and we believe the time has arrived to pursue similar approaches in the aviation sector," Peters said in prepared testimony delivered during a Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing.
Peters stressed there are three ways to respond to New York congestion -- sticking with the status quo, reregulating the aviation system, or using "some form of pricing to optimize the use of existing capacity." Peters said reimposing slots would be "a mistake."
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