Too Many Planes, Not Enough Airspace

"It's caught everyone by surprise. They're saying it's too many planes that want to come to Fort Lauderdale, so they're holding them at airports around the country."

So said Jim Reynolds, spokesman for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, after the FAA imposed a traffic management stop on all flights to the airport Friday. Sheesh, and it's not even Spring Break yet.

The stop affected more than two dozen flights headed for Florida from around the country. Seems there were just too many planes trying to squeeze into not-enough-airspace. In many cases, there were simply too many corporate aircraft trying to get to Florida. Most affected was the route between JFK and Fort Lauderdale. It's already the busiest route on the East Coast. Burgeoning traffic at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood has made it the fastest growing airport in the nation.

Reynolds said the airport expected approximately 390,000 passengers between last Tuesday and this coming Monday. If that prediction holds, it would mean a mind-boggling growth rate of six-percent over last year.

The delays experienced Friday were made worse by the nation's elevated terror threat assessment level. Bomb-sniffing dogs, random vehicle searches and stepped-up concourse security all added to commercial flight delays.

FMI: www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp