JFK Airport Hourly Flight Caps

JFK International Airport is definitely one of the busiest airports in the United States, cranking out close to 100 flights per hour. With all of that traffic, this particular airport is a major cause in the air traffic delays found across the country, particularly on the East coast. To ease the congestion, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters recently announced a plan to reduce the number of HOURLY flight in and out of JFK by a fifth. Beginning in May of 2008, flights will be decreased to 82 or 83 from the current number of around 95 in the busy summer months. The powers that be had planned on an INCREASE to approximately 104 per hour, but that idea has been squashed.

Secretary Peters reached an agreement with the major airlines servicing the airport to shift flights from the traditional peak time to off-peak hours. So you should have just as may flights available, they just wont be at the times you’re used to. This plan will be implemented on March 15, and will run for the next two years. Before you get too upset about the change in coverage, you should know that by changing the flight times, the number of DAILY FLIGHTS will actually increase by 50.

What’s next? Peters plans to start negotiating flight caps with airlines that operate at Newark International Airport, which will prevent airlines from simply shifting flights across the Hudson. Crafty. The Transportation Department wants to sell the coveted JFK slots to the highest bidder, the cost of which will certainly be passed off to you, the consumer.

To alleviate congestion during the holiday season, the Transportation Department has again authorized commercial flights to fly in military airspace over the Atlantic seaboard. I recently spoke to a major airline pilot who told me the previous test during which commercial airlines were permitted to use military space seemed to ease up the traffic quite a lot.

Via Gothamist.