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FAA Fights Proliferation of Small Planes

More and smaller planes lead to congestion headache

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 23, 2007

Those are the primary reasons that air travel is mired in a myriad of record delays – especially in the super-saturated airspace of the Northeast.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) limits the number of takeoffs and landings at busy airports but airline schedules invariably exceed that number – adding to the problem. Bad weather merely compounds the felony.

Reverting to larger planes would help, the FAA says, because the proliferation of small regional jets that seat fewer than 100 passengers has turned runways into gridlock.

According to Airline Monitor, which checks industry trends, U.S. airlines have grounded 385 larger planes but added 1,029 regional jets from 2000-2006.

At New York’s LaGuardia alone, nearly half of all flights are made on props, turboprops, or regional jets that wait in the same taxiways as larger planes. The percentage is only slightly lower at the other New York airports, John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty.

Because smaller planes hold fewer passengers, more of them are needed to meet the rising demand for tickets. With more flights vying for runway space, the number and length of delays are increasing. Nearly one-third of all June 2007 flights in the U.S. was late, with an average delay over an hour.

The FAA tried to convince carriers to revert to larger planes at LaGuardia but met strong opposition. Airlines like smaller planes because they are more economical, with lower-paid pilots, fewer flight attendants and less fuel consumption, while passengers like the convenience of multiple flight times.

Although domestic passenger traffic has jumped 3.6 per cent since 2002, airlines have routinely moved larger planes to more lucrative international routes and reserved regional jets for domestic use.

Regional carriers, which work in concert with the large legacy airlines, have reported a recent traffic increase of 196 per cent. With more planes competing for runway space, it’s hardly surprising that delays have increased every year since 2003.

Ten years ago, the average plane flown by U.S. carriers had a capacity of 160, a number that has since fallen to 137. And that includes the larger planes used on overseas routes.

Anxious to alleviate the problem, the FAA insists airlines would save time and aggravation by reverting to bigger planes. The agency claims its plan to require an increase in seating capacity aboard planes at LaGuardia would cut delays there by 37 per cent.

Under the FAA’s plan, the fleets of each airline would have to have a per-plane average of 105-120 seats, as opposed to the current average of 98 seats.

Limiting takeoff and landing slots would help too but Congress started reducing such restrictions seven years ago in an effort to help discount carriers compete.

For airlines that depend upon time-sensitive schedules and passengers that count on making their connections, the biggest problem now is getting from Point A to Point B not only safely but in a reasonable amount of time.

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