Paul Hudson, Executive Director, said, "California style blackouts in air travel are now possible unless Secretary Mineta moves quickly. Pending short term solutions are sitting on his desk and have been on FAA Administrator's Jane Garvey's desk for over 18 months. The Bush Administration must not continue the Clinton Administration policy of delaying about delays."

Since 1998, ACAP's executive director has met several times with FAA Administrator Jane Garvey on the delay problem. In August 2000, ACAP and a host of other aviation consumer representatives met at U.S. DOT headquarters for an "Airline Delay Summit" and with then U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, who heard specific proposals to ease the delay crisis. But no action was taken, and the problem has only worsened to become a crisis.

Pending consumer group proposals include a Truth in Scheduling Rule, requiring airlines to notify passengers of the on time statistic of chronically delayed flights and to eliminate deceptively scheduled flights (i.e. those late or canceled more than 80 percent of the time), thereby arming passengers with accurate scheduling information. This rule would eliminate the incentive airlines now have to over schedule flights during peak times to attract more customers. ACAP estimates that issuance of the pending Truth in Scheduling Rule by U.S. DOT would reduce the number of flights delays by 5 percent within 30 days, at no significant cost to industry and would save the public with over $3 billion per year by reducing one type of unnecessary flight delay.

Paul Hudson noted, "If the weather forecast says there is an 80 percent chance of rain, most people will not plan a picnic. Likewise if the public is accurately informed when flights will really take off and land, they will naturally adjust their travel plans and tend to choose flights that are reasonably on time, thereby reducing consumer demand for deceptively scheduled flights during overcrowded times. Many airlines admit to over scheduling but justify the practice on competitive grounds and because there is no rule against it."

Other proposals include:

-- mandating use of larger airplanes (300 to 500 passenger jets) to reduce the number of flights and relieve congestion between major metropolitan airports,

-- requiring airlines to operate with minimum reserves of airplanes and flight crews (most airlines now operate with plus 1 percent to minus 8 percent reserves, causing daily chronic delays and cancellations, that become massive delays in cases of minor disruption),

-- congestion pricing at major airports,

-- shared use of airport capacity in congested major metro areas,

-- greater use of regional jets (30 to 60 passengers) for direct service between smaller and medium size cities avoiding overburdened hubs and certain congested big city airports,

-- greater use of dozens of under-utilized military and ex-military air bases for civilian aviation,

-- new airports for the most over-crowded areas, such as Chicago and Atlanta.

Hudson noted, "In our view, the current delay crisis would largely dissipate with reasonable government leadership and some rationale regulation. Most experts in industry, government and consumer groups agree that more runways are needed at some airports and that air traffic control needs further modernization, but these are medium to long-term measures that will do nothing to stem the current delay crisis for 3 to 10 years. We cannot wait for a California style electric deregulation debacle in air travel before taking action."

"Airlines and airports have largely caused the current crisis with revenue maximizing and cost reduction practices. In the second half of the 1990's, U.S. airlines earned record profits each year, while the cost of unnecessary delays was borne largely by the public. Some in the airline industry would use the delay crisis to further a long sought political goal of the major airlines: Taking air traffic control away from the FAA and turning it over to a private monopoly, and to divert public attention from airline responsibility for flight delays. The Bush Administration must reject airline trade association's (Air Transport Association (ATA)) opposition to any restrictions on airlines' present unfettered right to schedule flights anytime, anywhere, and especially the indefensible practice of issuing knowingly deceptive flight schedules to the public (known as over scheduling). No solution to the delay crisis is possible without reasonable government regulation and enforcement existing DOT regulations against deceptive marketing practices."

Air traffic has become over concentrated at a few airports at certain times of the day. Of the 450 airports in the USA, the bottom 390 control only 6 percent of the traffic, while the top 60 have 94 percent of the traffic and the top 20 control over half the traffic. Despite 0.5 to 5 percent annual increases in the air travel, the skies are still virtually empty over 80 percent of the USA, while most smaller and medium size airports have ironically seen traffic stagnate or even decline due to major airline hub and spoke systems and higher airfares.

The Aviation Consumer Action Project (ACAP) is an independent, non-profit, public interest organization founded in 1971, supported by thousands of air travelers, which acts as a voice and ear for the traveling public on major aviation issues. ACAP has been a voting member of the FAA's 65 member Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) since 1991, and is the public representative on ARAC's executive committee. ACAP receives no government or aviation industry funding.

More information is available from the ACAP Web site at http://www.acap1971.org

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