Wants More Passengers On Fewer Planes

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is requesting the Federal Aviation Administration to grant it more power to reduce the congestion of their airspace. The agency believes the best way to stem the tide of massive traffic congestion in the region's airspace is to increase the number of large aircraft and decrease the number of small ones and it wants the authority to make that happen.

"We'd like to have more passengers on less planes," said Port Authority Aviation Director William DeCota.

The Port Authority would like to see an overall average of 120 passengers per plane for three of its airports: Newark Liberty International Airport, La Guardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport.

JFK already meets that number pretty consistently, but flights into EWR are averaging 89 passengers and LGA 67, well below the desired quantity, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters said the Port Authority proposal for La Guardia is under review.

As for JFK and EWR, "The FAA is actively monitoring operations at both airports but has not yet determined that government intervention -- such as restrictions -- is needed," he said.

"There has to be a way to encourage efficiency. You can't have numbers that small and efficiently use the airspace," DeCota said.

The agency says it will offer incentives to encourage airlines to use larger planes, such as better gate positions and lower fees, especially at LGA which has the lowest passenger-per-plane ratio.

"This is one of those things that would be in everyone's interests," Robert Mann Jr., a Long Island-based aviation industry consultant told the Ledger.

He says he is skeptical, however, about the chances of the airlines or the FAA changing their minds.

"They have blinders on when it comes to these short-term battles," Mann said of the airlines. "Everything you do at an airline costs you more money by the hour."

Continental Airlines spokesperson Mary Clark said EWR's largest carrier is prepared to listen. It just wants to makes sure the smaller markets relying on the smaller jets aren't jeopardized. The carrier has already eliminated older turboprops at EWR.

"As this trend moves forward, we need to balance our ability to serve smaller communities, which necessitate smaller aircraft, with the need to carry more passengers overall by utilizing bigger jets," said Clark.

"Using aircraft that are the right size is one of our key priorities at Newark, and overall we have had a strategy of up gauging to carry more passengers in the same amount of airspace."

FMI: www.panynj.gov