Pressure: Airport capacity is high on the agenda as US congestion continues to squeeze. Peak-hour pricing is now among the solutions.(Statistical Data Included)

Publication: Airline Business

Publication Date: 04-JUN-01

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Reed Business Information Ltd.

Airports, rather than airlines or air traffic control, are now the centre of the US flying public's focus and fixation with airline delays. The question of airport capacity and expansion is high on the list of answers in the big multiple-choice test question, over "why my flight is late?" Driving this renewed focus on runway concrete, is a long-awaited US Federal Aviation Administration project to provide the first definitions of just how many flights the nation's major airports can actually handle. The FAA's benchmarks of airport capacity for the first time define physical limits in concrete terms - literally. By spelling out in decimal detail exactly how many flights an airport should be able to accommodate in a given hour, the study is a compelling presentation of the choice between spending more on airports or flying less. Coming at a time when airport expansion has finally begun to gain a place high up on the US national agenda, the report is "a political document, in the best sense of the term," says David Plavin president of the Airport Council International (ACI)North America. For some major airports the report is the first-ever formal statement of how many flights they can be expected to handle. It has become the source of ammunition in moves toward the most fundamental change in US...

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