Airline Lobbyists' Finger-Pointing On Delays
Because of record-setting delays and passenger frustration during the busy Summer travel period, the airlines have resorted to the tired tactic of blaming their delays on others. Their Washington lobbying group, the Air Transportation Association (ATA), has been inferring that small planes are a major factor in delays in the New York area.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and this attempt at distraction from the real causes for airline delays ignores several facts:
FACT: The Department of Transportation (DOT) reports that almost all delays are caused by weather and the commercial airlines' own scheduling practices. Earlier this year, the DOT launched an investigation into "deceptive scheduling practices" by the
airlines, focusing on carriers operating “chronically delayed flights without telling customers of the repeated problems.” The DOT doesn't list general aviation anywhere in the causes the Department cites for airline delays. [Sources: DOT data, "Dallas Morning News," 4/20/07.]
FACT: At the nation's 10-busiest airports, general aviation accounts for less than 4% of all
aircraft operations. When it comes to the busy New York area, which receives so much attention today, business aviation operations have actually gone
down in recent years. In recent years, general aviation operations have decreased 9%, while airline operations have increased 14%. For the first six months of 2007, FAA statistics show that general aviation accounted for 2.63% of operations at La Guardia, Newark, and JFK airports combined. [Sources: FAA Data]
FACT: FAA data shows that use of the overall system by business aviation is actually flat
to down in terms of flight hours in recent years. Indeed, the average turbine
business aircraft (turboprops and jets) flies only about 370 hours per year - less
than 10 percent of the amount of flight hours in a year for a commercial airliner. [Source: FAA Data]
FACT: What's really grown in recent years is the activity from the airlines at the big hub
airports (see attached chart). Contributing to this problem: A spike in regional jet
use by the airlines. As NBC News recently reported: “From 2000 through 2006, the
airlines grounded 385 older, mostly larger planes but they added more than 1,000 regional jets--fewer seats, cheaper to fly but competing for the same limited space on runways.” [Source: NBC Nightly News, 8/14/07]
FACT: Here's what FAA Administrator Marion Blakey had to say about the situation:
“U.S. airlines should cut their schedules to reduce record delays…”
[Bloomberg News, 9/11/07]
FACT: Under obligation to tell the truth in filings with the Securities Exchange
Commission (SEC), the airlines report to their investors the actual circumstances
impacting their flight operations and profitability, and none list small private planes
as having anything to do with delays.
The Bottom line: Airline delays are largely a self-inflicted wound. The airlines' predictable finger-pointing on the issue is just another part of their long-running attempt to use a Congressional funding process for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to win a major tax break from Congress paid for by general aviation, introduce new aviation "user fees" and assume control of the air traffic control system.
Government Officials, News Organizations, And Industry Analysts Agree:
Airline Delays Are a Self-Inflicted Wound
Below are recent quotes included in coverage from major new outlets, industry analysts and airline personnel, which show that airline delays are largely a self-inflicted wound.
Government officials have identified airline scheduling as the real driver behind their delays...
"Airline schedules are 'out of line with reality,' Federal Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey said today in a speech to an industry group. 'If the carriers aren't ready to address this, don't be surprised if the government steps in.'"
[Bloomberg News, 9/11/07]
Here's what National Public Radio told listeners FAA Administrator Marion Blakey also had to say about the situation: "Blakey says the airlines have pushed the system closer to the tipping point by squeezing too many flights at peak hours into gridlocked airports, and by switching to smaller planes."
["All Things Considered," NPR, 8/22/07]
Even air traffic controllers don't accept ATA's spin.
- According to the 10/05/07 edition of Aviation Daily: “NATCA Eastern Regional VP Phil Barbarello says it's not true that business jets are causing delays in the New York area because they have ‘separate arrival fixes and separate airspace when they enter the New York Terminal Radar Control (TRACON) area, and they don't impede air carriers.’ In fact, he added, bizjet arrivals are often restricted to accommodate airline arrivals at Newark.
[Aviation Daily, 10/5/2007]
- According to Congressional testimony from NATCA President Pat Forrey: "The evidence indicates there is NO impact of general aviation or business jets on the congestion and delay problems at JFK" (page 6). "The chronic over-scheduling by airlines at the nation’s busiest airports will intensify the runways capacity limitations." (page 17)
[Testimony before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, U.S. House of Representatives, September 26, 2007].
Media organizations recognize that the airlines themselves are to blame for delays...
"One of the big reasons flying is so miserable is because airlines schedule more flights at desirable times than airports can handle – much as they sell seats to more passengers than their planes can hold. On a typical Tuesday morning in August at New York’s John F. Kennedy International, the airport has enough capacity for around 44 departures between 8 and 9 a.m. But airlines schedule 57, guaranteeing delays, even under perfect conditions."
[Business Week, 9/11/07]
"Here's the problem: Airlines schedule too many flights at peak times from hub airports."
[Washington Post, 8/22/07]
"Chalk up another trapped-on-a-plane ordeal for passengers and another customer-service fiasco to airline bumbling."
[USA Today, 8/20/07]
"...RJs have become an integral part of the airlines' fleets. The numbers from 2000 through 2006: the airlines grounded 385 older, mostly larger planes but they added more than 1,000 regional jets – fewer seats, cheaper to fly but competing for the same limited space on runways...The worst: New York City. JFK handles 1,400 take-offs and landings, or operations, each day. At LaGuardia: nearly 1,300, while in Newark: 1,356 – record delays at all three, yet the airlines have increased flights into New York using regional jets."
[NBC Nightly News, 8/14/07]
"One cause of airport crowding and flight delays is receiving scant attention. Airlines increasingly bring passengers into jammed airports on smaller airplanes. That means using more flights -- and increasing the congestion at airports and in the skies around them."
[Wall Street Journal, 8/14/07]
"New airlines are adding planes, which may mean more flights and cheaper fares. With that comes more delays, more crowds, more frustration."
[Los Angeles Times, 8/27/07]
"Airlines are bracing for the shortage of pilots, which already has led one airline to cancel hundreds of flights. Last month, Northwest was forced to cancel about 10 percent of its flights after many of its pilots had maxed out their flight hours for the month."
[Seattle Times, 8/28/07]
"American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, is pinning its hopes for growth in the lucrative New York market on a $1.3 billion terminal, unveiled on Wednesday, that could net it 50 percent more passengers at John F. Kennedy International Airport."
[Reuters, 8/27/07]
Industry analysts agree: airline delays are a self-inflicted wound...
"This silly rumor that general aviation airplanes are delaying scheduled flights is just non-sense. They're not doing anything of the sort, that's just a rumor, basically, or gossip."
[Michael Boyd, Boyd Group Chairman, CNBC "Street Signs," 8/30/07]
"At the core of the problem is the industry's hub-and-spoke system, said Todd Sinai, a Wharton professor. 'It is all predicated on driving traffic to and from key airports and doing it at a particular time,' he said. 'That makes the system very sensitive to hiccups.'"
[New York Times, 8/4/07]
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