DOT 109-07
Contact: Brian Turmail
Tel.: (202) 366-4570
Friday, October 12, 2007

U.S. Transportation Secretary Peters Calls
Scheduling Meeting To Reduce Airline Delays at JFK International Airport

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters today called for a meeting with airlines to discuss flight schedules into and out of New York’s JFK airport. The meeting between the FAA and airlines serving JFK will be held Oct. 23-24.

The scheduling meeting is part of a two-pronged approach to address chronic New York delays, Secretary Peters said. She also has charged a group of airline, airport and travel officials with developing a series of additional measures to reduce congestion at New York’s three major airports before the start of the 2008 summer travel season.

“Our first choice is to find market-based incentives to fix delays so we can preserve passenger choice, but we will consider imposing scheduling restrictions as one option to avoid a repeat of this summer’s delays,” Secretary Peters said.

In late September, Secretary Peters created a new group, known as the Aviation Rulemaking Committee – or ARC, to report to President Bush by December proposals to reduce aviation delays. She said the Administration expects the committee to develop a series of sustainable, market-based solutions to New York-area delays, but made it clear the Department will act to reduce schedules if necessary to ensure fewer delays next summer.

Airlines at JFK increased their scheduled operations by 41 percent between March 2006 and August 2007, Secretary Peters said. As a result, the number of arrival delays exceeding one hour increased by 114 percent in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2007, compared to the same period the previous year. During June and July 2007, on-time arrival performance at JFK was only 59 percent, she said.

The Secretary added her Department also is working to strengthen and improve consumer protections. Those plans include immediate measures to provide travelers with better information about delays, increase the amount of money passengers receive when they are involuntarily bumped from flights, update consumer complaint systems and increase oversight of chronically delayed flights.

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