Unsnarling the Crowded Skies

By Alexander L. Taylor III

Under prodding, airlines try to ease flight traffic

As millions of airline passengers have discovered to their sorrow, the terms rush hour and gridlock no longer apply only to travel by car. This summer, teeth-grinding, stomach-wrenching waits at major airports have become distressingly common. The aggravation reached a new and irritating high last month, as flight delays increased 276% over a year ago, to 44,372. Nearly one in ten airline trips was more than 15 minutes late.

Fewer air traffic controllers, more flights, a shortage of runways and gates, and summer storms have all been blamed for the crunch. But according to the Federal Aviation Administration, the airlines themselves are the most culpable. They prefer to schedule flights early in the morning and in the evening to coincide with the business day, and to bunch their operations on the hour. At Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport, 42 takeoffs and landings are scheduled between 8 a.m. and 8:09, though the airport is capable of handling only about 20 of them.

As the delays stacked up last month, the FAA issued a stern warning to the airlines: either voluntarily reschedule flights at the six most congested airports (Atlanta's Hartsfield, the New York City area's Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark, Chicago-O'Hare and Denver's Stapleton) or the FAA would do it for them. A special immunity from antitrust prosecution was granted so that the air carriers could meet. Representatives from about 50 domestic and 15 international carriers last week began a six-day session in Crystal City, Va., outside Washington, to work out new flight schedules. Ordinarily highly competitive, the officials pledged cooperation. Said Dan Henkin, a vice president of the Air Transport Association: "There is a strong desire to work something out and a driving force for speed." The unofficial deadline is Sept. 19, when the fall edition of the Official Airline Guide goes to press.

Early on, the talks ran into turbulent weather. A Government proposal to increase the number of flights at Kennedy and La Guardia while reducing traffic at nearby Newark ran into objections from People Express. The cut-rate carrier, which uses Newark for its popular shuttle service to Washington and Boston, angrily protested that any cutback would restrain competition for the benefit of a larger airline. The carrier it meant was Eastern, which runs a rival shuttle operation from La Guardia.

After six years of deregulation, however, the airlines are in no mood to let the Government begin writing schedules for them again. Says Delta Spokesman Jim Ewing: "This is upsetting as hell to us." Accordingly, Delta and Eastern put aside their differences and juggled their peak-hour operations in Atlanta, where the two carriers account for 85 scheduled arrivals between 7:55 and 8:30 a.m. Delta offered to move its arrivals up, to between 7:30 and 8:15, while Eastern said it would shift its back, to between 8:25 and 8:55. As the meetings proceeded through the weekend, airline officials went on to discuss congestion at Stapleton Airport and Chicago-O'Hare.

The FAA took its own action last week to help unsnarl the crowded skies by announcing that it will hire 1,400 new air traffic controllers, none of them former Patco union members, by Sept. 30, 1985. That will bring the total to 14,300 but still leave the system with 2,000 fewer controllers than it had three years ago. For air travelers weary of waiting for takeoff, any sign of progress was welcome news indeed.

With reporting by Carolyn Lesh