Mineta Targets Most Heavily Congested Routes

During a visit to the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center on Wednesday, U. S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta announced a series of new steps aimed at reducing potential gridlock and delays during this year’s upcoming peak travel period, including the creation of new air traffic “express lanes,” within many of our nation’s most heavily congested routes.

“As the economy improves and passengers return to our skies, the federal government is acting to reduce the kind of gridlock we saw before 9/11,” said Secretary Mineta. “These new tools for managing congestion in bad weather and during peak travel periods demonstrate a new era of cooperation between the federal government and all users of the system to improve customer service and maintain a strong aviation industry.”

The majority of aviation delays are caused by bad weather, the Secretary said, and managing these delays is particularly challenging during the spring and summer months. He said the Department’s plan for managing delays includes a new, innovative approach to air traffic operations that creates “express lanes” within the nation’s airspace.

Unlike past summers, when weather-delayed planes at congested airports waited to be scheduled into the normal air traffic flow, this year the FAA and the airlines will adjust plane routes throughout the airspace system and hold planes briefly on the ground to free up vital air traffic lanes. These “express lanes” will reduce overall delay times at congested airports by getting planes off the ground and into the air traffic flow as safely and efficiently as weather permits.

The concept of “express lanes” resulted from a three-day conference held earlier this month, called “Growth without Gridlock.” Hosted by the FAA, the conference brought together more than 60 participants from major and regional airlines, business aviation, pilots, and industry associations to develop a common strategy to reduce system delays.

“By bringing aviation’s intellectual capital together in one room, we’ve come up with a new solution to help ease delays” said Administrator Blakey. “The partnership of the FAA and industry is at the center of improved efficiency in the national airspace system.”

The Secretary said the Department’s plan also includes combining, for the first time, Canadian and FAA weather radars to provide more accurate and timely information that allows for faster aircraft re-routing. And, an enhanced Collaborative Convective Forecast Product (CCFP), developed jointly by the National Weather Service and the airlines, will also improve aircraft re-routing and planning in advance of bad weather

FMI: www.dot.gov