AFTER THE WORST six months of airline delays in history, travelers have a right to expect Washington to help reduce the congestion that can leave passengers sitting in stifling airplanes on the tarmac for hours. Letting the airlines book as many flights as they want into overcrowded airports is simply not working, especially when bad weather at hubs can cascade into nationwide backups. The Federal Aviation Administration should work with airlines to reduce peak-period use at all the bottleneck airports, either through peak-hour fees on flights or by auctioning off the rights to takeoffs and landings at rush hours. If the airlines balk, the agency should get power from Congress to mandate such measures.
Congress also has a crucial decision to make: how to fund the $15 billion to $25 billion cost of modernizing air traffic control with a shift from a radar system to a satellite-based one. While the improvement will not ease congestion for years, if then, one part of the FAA’s funding plan – a new user fee for corporate jets and small private aircraft at the nation’s busiest airports – could have an immediate payoff in delay reduction.
