Bush orders action on record flight delays

WASHINGTON — President Bush took aim at airline delays today, asking for solutions by the end of the year, particularly for New York City airports which have some of the worst problems in the nation.

The Federal Aviation Administration will meet with airlines to reconsider flight scheduling; airlines also may face "congestion pricing" when they are charged more for using an airport during peak periods. "There's a lot of anger amongst our citizens," President Bush said after meeting with FAA administrator Robert Sturgell and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters in Washington, D.C. "The skies are too crowded, and there's some short-term things we're going to do."

In the first seven months of this year, only 72 percent of flights arrived within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, a record low. Some travelers have endured hours-long delays and in a few instances were stranded for hours in planes on the tarmac.

An aviation study group will examine congestion pricing and make recommendations to Peters in December, even as airlines say they would fight such a solution as penalizing the New York area. One proposal is to compel airlines to pay more to fly during peak travel periods. However, airline executives said today, during talks with lawmakers and the Bush administration, that it would not lessen delays.

That strategy "will do nothing more than reduce service to small communities, reduce job growth and raise fares for commercial passengers," Zane Rowe, senior vice president of network strategy at Continental Airlines, told the Senate subcommittee on aviation operations, safety and security. Joe Kolshak, executive vice president of operations at Delta Air Lines, agreed.

Commercial airline executives blame a large part of the air-traffic jams on runways and in the skies — particularly in the Northeast — on the growing use of tiny jets among corporations and wealthy individuals.

But Steve Brown, senior vice president of operations for the National Business Aviation Association, on Wednesday said government data show such aviation accounts for less than 4 percent of all aircraft operations at the nation's 10 busiest airports.

New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport has enough capacity normally for 44 departures between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., but commercial airlines regularly schedule 57 departures, said Brown, a former associate administrator for air traffic services at the Federal Aviation Administration.