Limits Ops To 88/Hour

From The Department Of Transportation...

Time lost by travelers on flight delays at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport will be cut by 20 percent before the end of the year under an agreement reached between negotiators for the US Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and airlines, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced Wednesday.

Domestic airlines serving O'Hare have agreed to a voluntary limit of 88 scheduled arrivals per hour between 0700 and 2000 local. The new limit on scheduled arrivals during peak hours, effective November 1, brings schedules more in line with O'Hare's current capacity and is expected to cut the amount of time lost due to delays by 20 percent, according to computer modeling developed from six months of actual O'Hare delay information.

The agreement, which is the result of talks directed by Secretary Mineta and chaired by FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, also is expected to cut delay times by imposing a limit on new flights that airlines were planning to add in November.

"We've worked hard to balance the need to provide vibrant air service and grow the economy with the need to clear the skies over O'Hare," Mineta said. "The process worked, yielding substantial reductions that will produce results for the traveling public."

"We were able to reach a cooperative, voluntary agreement with the carriers," Blakey said. "Both groups want the same thing: efficient transportation for the flying public."

United and American Airlines, which operate 86 percent of flights at O'Hare, have offered the largest reductions. United will reduce 20 arrivals while American will cancel 17 incoming flights scheduled between noon and 2000 local. Some of these flights may operate during less congested periods of the day. Other airlines with fewer operations have agreed to reduce or change schedules to cut delays.

"We need to steer a course that will keep passengers and the economy moving without stunting the growth of competitive service out of O'Hare," Mineta said. The agreement, signed by Blakey Wednesday, takes effect November 1, 2004 and expires April 30, 2005. In addition to the schedule reductions, airlines must contact the FAA for approval prior to rescheduling flights to ensure potential scheduling moves do not have a detrimental effect on airport efficiency.

The agreement also allows new entrants and those carriers already serving O'Hare with eight or fewer scheduled arrivals to add no more than one arrival from noon to 2100 local. All additions would be subject to prior approval by the FAA and handled on a first-come, first-served basis.  If one scheduled arrival is added, one non-scheduled arrival will be removed to maintain the agreed upon overall hourly arrival rate at the airport.

FMI: www.dot.gov