Air Travel Delays Creating Pressure for 'Re-Regulation'
Cox News Service
Thursday, April 10, 2008
WASHINGTON — On a day when American Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights and stranded about 100,000 passengers, the powerful chairman of a congressional committee overseeing transportation warned Wednesday that pressure is mounting to "re-regulate" the airline industry.
"The leash is a very short one," said Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. "Public patience is running out."
 RICK MCKAY/Cox Newspapers Gary Edwards, Director-Flight Control and Chief Dispatcher for Delta Airlines, (second from right) listens to comments by Gregory Principato, President, airports Council International, North America, (center), at a House Transportation Committee hearing on aviation delays and consumer issues Tuesday, April 9, 2008. From left: Transportation Inspector General Calvin Scovel III; Transportation General Counsel D.J. Gribbin; Principato, Edwards, and Kate Hanni, executive director of the Coalition for Airline Passengers' Rights, Health, and Safety.  RICK MCKAY/Cox Newspapers Gary Edwards, Director-Flight Control and Chief Dispatcher for Delta Airlines, (center) listens to comments at a House Transportation Committee hearing on aviation delays and consumer issues Tuesday, April 9, 2008. At left is James May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association.  RICK MCKAY/Cox Newspapers James May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association, left, and Gary Edwards, Director-Flight Control and Chief Dispatcher for Delta Airlines, right, testify at a House Transportation Committee hearing on aviation delays and consumer issues Tuesday, April 9, 2008. |
Oberstar's blunt remarks came during a hearing on aviation delays and consumer issues and as the nation's biggest airline scrubbed a third of its flights to inspect wiring on some of its jets. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors found problems with wiring work done two weeks ago, and Oberstar said the massive inconvenience could be traced to a rush to make up for lax regulation in the past.
"What we're seeing," he said, results from deadlines being missed and airworthiness directives not being enforced.
Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, told the Associated Press that the cancellations could continue beyond Wednesday as the airline works on its fleet of 300 MD-80 jets. By Wednesday morning, only 30 of the planes were back in service.
Oberstar said he voted — with reservations — for the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978 that ended federal control of commercial aviation and left fares for airline passengers and flight schedules up to the market forces of supply and demand.
Overall, fares have been lowered by deregulation, he said, but passenger dissatisfaction is growing almost hourly on issues such as flight delays and cancellations, lost luggage and passengers being stuck on runways.
"There is a palpable sense of outrage in the public" on these matters, he told witnesses from the airline industry and Department of Transportation.
James May, president of the Air Transport Association of America, which represents the major airlines, said the industry is working to solve the problems but noted that weather is the cause of most lengthy flight delays.
He also warned that there is an "unavoidable trade-off" between delays and cancellations.
"If Congress and the public conclude that avoiding lengthy delays is the most important objective, we must all accept the fact that more flights will be canceled and more passengers, at the end of the day, will be inconvenienced," he testified.
The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) testified that air travelers' dissatisfaction has been compounded by reduced capacity and increased demand, which leads to fuller flights and bigger airline profits, but causes a rippling of passenger problems if a flight is delayed or canceled.
"Between 2000 and 2007, airlines have managed the growth in seat capacity to constrain costs," Calvin Scovel testified. Last June, for instance, 86.1 percent of all airline seats were occupied.
"With more seats filled, air carriers have fewer options to accommodate passengers from canceled flights or those missing connections due to flight delays," he explained. "This situation has been further compounded by the recent grounding of numerous passenger aircraft by American, Delta, Southwest and United Airlines in the aftermath of growing maintenance concerns."
Sometimes delays are inevitable because airlines overschedule flights at popular departure times, he said. He cited Northwest Airlines scheduling 56 departures in a 15-minute window at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport — three times the departure capacity.
Scovel said whether delays this summer will be as bad or worse than those last year will depend on several factors. These include weather conditions, the impacts of a softening economy, whether airlines chose to further reduce capacity to save money, and initiatives being taken at several busy airports.
One-third of the delays throughout the whole U.S. system can be traced to the overly crowded airports in and around New York City, he said.
Scovel said several "near-term actions" are needed to reduce congestion and prevent delays this summer:
— DOT negotiating a plan with the Department of Defense to open special-use air space for additional lanes of air traffic.
— Airlines leveling out arrivals and departures at hub airports to establish realistic flight operations at peak times.
— FAA addressing concerns about air traffic controller productivity and excess spacing of flights on final approach while it trains large numbers of new controllers.
But Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., had a sobering prediction for air travelers this summer.
"It isn't going to get any better, and it's probably going to get a lot worse," he said.