REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE MARY PETERS
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION

NEW STEPS TO REDUCE FLIGHT DELAYS AND IMPROVE HOLIDAY AIR TRAVEL
WASHINGTON, D.C.

NOVEMBER 15, 2007
2:00 PM

Good afternoon. Thank you, Dana, and welcome, everyone.

Back in September, President Bush called for immediate actions to protect consumers and to make air travel over the holidays more pleasant than it was this summer. Today, I briefed the President on new steps we are taking to improve the experience for people flying home for the holidays, and beyond. We are determined not to let airline delays turn holiday cheer into runway gloom.

Through the work of the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies, we have come up with some short-term measures that will add capacity to handle holiday traffic.

As the President just said, the FAA and the Department of Defense have reached an agreement that will allow commercial flights to take advantage of airspace typically used by the military. This added capacity will be especially important to travelers flying up and down the busy East Coast. Just as some crowded urban areas open up the shoulders of their highways to ease rush-hour commutes, opening these holiday rush “lanes” in the sky will give pilots additional options for flying around bad weather and speed traffic from the New York airports.

The FAA is also partnering with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to take advantage of technology and make operational changes to improve efficiency and reduce delays. For example, we recently put in place new runway procedures at Newark and JFK Airports that will increase the number of planes that can land under certain runway configurations and weather conditions.

The President also spoke of the special preparations the FAA is making on its own for the holiday crunch. Our air traffic managers will work with controllers to make sure that air traffic facilities are well staffed to handle holiday flights. And Acting Administrator Sturgell has imposed a moratorium on non-essential maintenance, construction, and renovation projects at FAA facilities around Thanksgiving and Christmas so they remain at full operating efficiency when travel is at its peak.

And, as the President said, we are announcing a series of proposed new rules that will help passengers know what to expect when they book a flight, allow us to step up oversight of chronically delayed flights, and enhance protections for consumers who are bumped, experience delays, or have other complaints against airlines.

Our proposed rules require airlines to respond to complaints within 30 days, and to set up an audit of their consumer complaint process. We also propose to double the compensation for passengers who are bumped from their flights when airlines overbook – going from $200 to $400 when the passenger can be booked on a new flight in under two hours, and from $400 to $800 for longer delays.

Our proposed rules further require carriers to adopt legally binding contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays – including guarantees of adequate food, water, lavatory facilities, and medical attention.

Nobody looks forward to having their flight delayed or cancelled, but these rules will ease uncertainty, smooth inconveniences, and give travelers due compensation for their troubles.

Our preference, though, is to eliminate the delays in the first place.

We have zeroed in on the major chokepoint – the New York region – and are on-target for reporting back to the President on recommended solutions in December. I remain optimistic that we will find ways to use market mechanisms to preserve passenger choice while reducing delays in the near term.

We are doing all we can to resolve our air congestion problems. But as the President said this afternoon, to address our delay problems, we need legislation to modernize our aviation system. We need Congress to heed these words, and soon. Delivering a long-term solution to constrained capacity at our airports and in our airspace would be a wonderful holiday gift to the American people.

The Administration is committed to finding the long-term solution to fixing our congested aviation system. In the meantime, these new steps the President announced today will help provide travelers relief from hold-ups and delays.

Thank you. And now, I am happy to answer your questions.