Bush Orders Changes to Cut Record Air Travel Delays

Sept. 27, 2007 — -- President Bush today launched a series of changes designed to cut air traffic congestion and flight delays by easing a bottleneck in New York before next summer and tightening consumer protections.

Under new orders from the president to improve record air traffic and delays, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has convened a panel of airline, airport and travel officials to recommend changes by the end of the year. The president wants the changes in effect in time to ease congestion for consumers by next summer's busy travel season.

"In some cases, they're just not being treated fairly. And there's a lot of anger amongst our citizens about the fact that, you know, they're just not being treated right," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office. "One of the reasons … airline passengers are being so inconvenienced is because the skies are too crowded."

Bush also ordered transportation officials to increase consumer protections by improving access to the department's complaint system and increasing oversight of chronic delays. The administration has already begun changing the rules for compensation. Peters said that could boost the amount consumers receive for getting bumped from flights from $200 to $624.

The short-term changes focus on the New York area's three major airports. One-third of the nation's air traffic flies through the region, with ripple effects that cause three-quarters of all serious airline delays.

The bottleneck in New York has contributed to the worst flying conditions in American history. The airline industry's on-time performance through the end of July was the worst on record, with nearly 30 percent of flights canceled or subjected to major delays.

"I'm open to everything," Peters told ABC News in an interview. "We don't take anything off the table. … We want travelers to enjoy traveling again and not dread it."

In New York, an airspace redesign should cut delays by as much as 20 percent, administration officials say, by taking advantage of improved aircraft performance and new air traffic technologies since the system was designed in the 1960s. That plan, which the Federal Aviation Administration began implementing last month, is expected to take five years to complete.

The Transportation Department is looking for ways to cut schedules at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The airport has capacity for 44 departures from 8-9 p.m., but 57 flights are scheduled during that period, Peters said.

Among the options being considered is "congestion pricing," forcing airlines to pay more during peak travel periods. Many airline industry officials oppose penalties for peak travel. Zane Rowe, senior vice president of network strategy at Continental Airlines Inc., told the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security today that such penalties "will do nothing more than reduce service to small communities, reduce job growth and raise fares for commercial passengers."

In the long term, Peters urged Congress to act on an administration plan for a new satellite-based air traffic control system that would replace the current "World War II" system and expand airspace capacity over the next 20 years. Congress has not yet acted on that plan, which the administration sent to Capitol Hill in February.

The president's effort was met with a critical response by Democrats on Capitol Hill. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., Chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, said "the President's realization that we are experiencing record flight delays comes better late than never. Such attention from the President in January or February would have made a difference for travelers this summer."