Wed, Dec 23, 2009
Coalition Applauds New 3-Hour Extended Tarmac Delay Rule
The Business Travel Coalition (BTC) praised Secretary Ray
LaHood and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Monday for
its rulemaking process that resulted in landmark passenger
protections, including a requirement for airlines to deplane
passengers after 3 hours of an extended tarmac delay if it is safe
and operationally feasible to do so. Passenger protections
concerning tarmac delays have been debated for some 10 years, and
BTC says Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
deserve significant credit for drawing official Washington
attention to this serious problem in recent years.
But the group also says the 3-hour rule simply will not work at
the 3 New York City-area airports, and other over-scheduled major
hubs, unless incumbent airlines rationalize and de-peak their
schedules and operations. Each airline will have to look at their
entire system and restructure, or they will violate the new rule
virtually every day. U.S. global carriers will have to consider
changes to their domestic and international schedules and
operations. The problem of congestion and delays could be
substantially alleviated with this 3-hour rule.
BTC Chairman Kevin Mitchell stated, "Passengers will likely
experience problems during the period when airlines are
reengineering their businesses as 120 days is not sufficient time
for airlines to prepare for this kind of fundamental and complex
change-management process. Over the longer term, however,
passengers will move throughout the aviation system much more
efficiently and business travelers in particular will recapture
productivity lost sitting on delayed aircraft."
"All passengers will benefit from the requirement that airlines
must provide food, water, operable lavatories and medical attention
as needed. Importantly, passengers will finally have hope and
realistic expectations that there is an exit strategy should a
flight be destined to remain excessively delayed," he added.
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