Aviation looks to cut delays through technology
From Carl Rochelle
CNN Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Lines are long and flights are late -- if they're not cancelled -- at airports this summer. And with the number of passengers expected to increase 3 to 4 percent each year for the foreseeable future, it promises to get worse.
"The problem is that the system is growing tremendously," said David Fuscus of the Air Transport Aviation Association. Over the last 20 years, we have gone from 275 million passengers to 650 million last year, and the É system has not grown with the traffic."
Aviation officials want to attack the problem on several fronts.
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The most immediate concern is weather delays, since the FAA says 70 percent of all delays are weather-related.
The FAA and the airlines get together on a conference calls every two hours from the FAA's Air Traffic Command Center in Herndon, Virginia, to discuss weather and consider flight pattern changes.
Even with that effort, though, weather-related delays in June were up 16 percent over June 1999.
Elsewhere, computer programs, which track planes in the air traffic control system and provide more direct routing and less waiting time for arriving flights, are being phased in at several airports.
In the last two years, officials say, these steps to reduce delays have saved 18.4 million delay minutes. That's about 15 1/2 years of waiting.
And experts say other programs show promise -- like a study of wake turbulence at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.
Wake turbulence is the violent wind generated by large airplanes in flight. It is most dangerous when a plane attempts to land close behind a large airliner. Controllers deal with the problem by spacing planes farther apart.
Researchers say the new technology allows them to track wake turbulence, allowing them to safely land up to six more planes an hour.
Nowhere to grow?
But easing the problem in the air doesn't solve the problem of crowded airports. Many, like Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, are at capacity and have nowhere to grow.
Last week, nearby Dulles International Airport, one of the world's fastest growing airports, announced plans to add a fourth runway.
"We're doing about 60,000 passengers a day, but one of these days, we think we're going to have to accommodate about 150,000 a day," said James Wilding of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
Atlanta's Hartsfield International, the world's busiest airport, is also adding another runway, and some communities like Denver have built new, larger airports to meet the increasing demands of travelers who want to fly at peak periods.
New larger airports are one answer but in places that need them most -- like New York, Boston and Chicago -- land is expensive and scarce and no one wants an airport built in his backyard.
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RELATED SITES:
Federal Aviation Administration
Air Transport Association
Department of Transportation
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