LaGuardia Airport in crisis, airline officials say

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater told a House subcommittee Thursday that the New York/New Jersey Port Authority has no authority to unilaterally impose a moratorium on additional "rush hour" flights at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

The Port Authority, attempting to address serious flight delay problems caused by increasing volume, last week imposed what it called a temporary ban on new flights during peak periods, beginning this Sunday, October 1. Peak periods are considered to be between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Congress has begun phasing out limits on the number of take offs and landings at airports in the hope that new regional airlines would increase service to parts of the country considered to be "underserved."

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Slater said he and other Transportation Department officials have met with the affected airlines and the Port Authority.

Slater said his department has the authority to impose a solution but he prefers a negotiated settlement.

Robert E. Boyle, Executive Director of the Port Authority, has said that during peak periods, existing flights already meet or exceed the airport's capacity.

The head of American Airlines testified Thursday that all airlines should be able to jointly discuss flight schedules in an attempt to resolve the problem. "There is a real crisis at LaGuardia," said Donald Carty, American's chairman and CEO. "And in light of this, I've reluctantly become convinced that the government really, in one form or another, should consider an immunized discussion among airlines." Other airline executives have said the same thing.

Currently, antitrust regulations prohibit airlines from discussing flight schedules with each other. "But something has got to give... the bad situation that exists at LaGuardia is simply going to deteriorate," said Carty.

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Official LaGuardia Airport
U.S. Department of Transportation
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

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