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Feds Propose Air Travel Improvements

Delays, baggage fees, fares targeted

May 19, 2008

Citing lessons learned from reports submitted by the Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines in response to last month’s grounding of hundreds of MD-80 aircraft, Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters called on the FAA and airlines to better ensure mutual understanding of what constitutes compliance with an Aviation Directive.

Peters added that the FAA and airlines need to review and improve procedures for understanding the process, timing and criteria for requesting and approving alternative solutions for safety directives, known as Alternate Means of Compliance.

She said she is calling on airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to review existing protocols for communications to make sure that significant safety decisions are made using a clearly documented process.

“When situations of this magnitude evolve, it is critical that all parties have the right information so the right decisions can be made,” Peters noted.

She said the reports make clear that the FAA is the ultimate arbiter of what constitutes a safety of flight issue and that safety deadlines must always be met on time. “It’s important to note that both American and the FAA agree when it comes to aviation safety, there are no soft deadlines.”

New consumer protections

Secretary Peters also released new consumer protection measures designed to improve air travel nationwide and cut congestion, increase competition and reduce fares at New York’s JFK and Newark Airports.

She said the department would begin requiring airlines and travel agents to disclose fees for checking a second bag in their internet and print ads and before anyone purchases a ticket.

The secretary also said that the Department has issued a final rule to require airlines to report new and more complete data on the time passengers spend on the tarmac. She noted that in the past airlines sometimes did not have to disclose how long aircraft were delayed after leaving the gate.

The new rule will require airlines to provide complete on-time and tarmac delay data about flights that may depart from a gate more than once, flights that are cancelled after having left the gate and flights that are diverted to another airport. “Passengers should know whether it will take as long for their flight to get to the runway as it will to land at their destination,” Peters said.

New York

Peters also announced three new measures designed to address severe delays at the three major New York area airports while preserving consumer choice, allowing for continued airline competition and keeping fares affordable.

She noted that the department posted the final order putting a temporary cap on flights at Newark Liberty Airport at an average of 83 scheduled flights per hour at the airport from June 1 until October 2009. However, while the measure will spread flight schedules more evenly throughout the day, Peters said it still would allow for an additional 30 operations per day than what was offered at the airport last summer.

In addition, the Department of Transportation will invest $2 million for a new study to look at ways to add transit connections to New York’s Stewart Airport, which is located approximately 90 miles north of Manhattan. Peters said the facility has the kind of runways and facilities that could take pressure off the region’s busier airports as long as travelers can easily get there.

DOT also is proposing new measures to make available a limited number of take off and landing opportunities, know as slots, for auction at JFK and Newark Airports.

Under the proposal, all airlines operating at Newark and JFK would be given up to 20 slots a day for the 10-year life of the rule. It also calls for auctioning 10 percent of slots at Newark Airport above the baseline annually for the first five years of the rule.

Peters said the Department was making the proposal because economists estimate that caps at airports without competition can increase fares for passengers between 11 to 15 percent over similar flights at other airports. Meanwhile economists estimate that fares drop by over 30 percent when new airlines enter a market.

“Simply put, competition drives down fares,” the secretary concluded.

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