Airlines: 10 Million Minutes Late
When we read about airline
delays, they are usually presented to us in percentages. Granted,
percentages give us good estimates, but what are the real
numbers—say, in minutes? I asked the Department of Transportation's
Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) to
provide their latest complete statistics (which happened to be for
the month of January, 2001). They were kind enough to compile the
"minutes late" data for 197 U.S. airports, and the numbers were
shocking. The grand tally was 9,882,182 minutes late for just one
month. Arrival delays added up to 5,237,590 minutes late, and
departure delays 4,644,592 minutes late. No wonder percentages are
used!
So, what are the excuses for being 10 million minutes
late? Overly congested airports and crowded airspace have
overwhelmed the country's air transport system. Airlines, aviation
experts, and the government are trying to improve the problems, but
it's going to take time and massive funding to improve the
beleaguered system.
Approaching Gridlock
These
delay statistics do not bode well for the world’s biggest airline
market. The number of domestic passengers is expected to double to
more than one billion by the year 2010, and it's going to get worse.
Industry figures estimate that for each percent of air travel
growth, air travel delays will increase five percent. In the past
five years, air traffic has increased by 27 percent. The numbers
speak for themselves, and growth has come at a huge price with lost
time and money.
Billions Lost
According to
data compiled by the Air Transport
Association (ATA), May was the worst month for major airline
revenue in at least two decades. Airlines have been hit hard by a
sharp decline in business travel, with many customers flying on
lower-cost tickets or forgoing travel altogether. And delays have
played a substantial part in the cost of doing
business.
Another ATA report on air traffic congestion sheds some
light on the amount of money it costs airlines and consumers when
flights are delayed. The ATA's report states that aircraft operating
costs due to air-traffic control delays were over $3 billion in
1998. The report goes on to include passengers' costs at a
"conservative" $25.70 per hour—delays in 1998 cost air travelers
about $2.1 billion.
A Billion Excuses
The
majority of the problems are due to the basic flaws in our aviation
infrastructure, and the past misappropriation of the Aviation Trust
Fund (ATF), which holds tax money raised from airline tickets,
cargo, and fuel sales. Although more than $10 billion has been going
into the ATF annually, only $4 billion has been used each year to
expand and improve aviation infrastructure; the rest was used to
offset the federal deficit. Although more monies have been released
in the past two years, years of misappropriation have culminated in
the failure to keep up with consumer demand to provide adequate
capacity in our airports and air-traffic control
systems.
Solutions
More Airports and
Runways
The most obvious cure is to build more
airports. In the past 15 years, only two new runways have been built
at U.S. airports. Part of the problem is that many airports are
located in flat, wetland areas that fall under heavy environmental
regulations, preventing many airports from expanding and adding new
runways. And, as much as people want to fly, few welcome the idea of
bigger or new airports in their backyard. Anti-airport activists
have become so vocal that new airport construction rarely occurs.
Last fall, James Goodwin, Chairman of United Airlines, went so far
to say the real cause of most flight delays is the local activists
who oppose airport expansion in their
communities.
Alternative
Airports
Another solution being touted is the use of
alternate airports. However, airlines are
reluctant to offer alternatives away from their hubs, as the 31
busiest airports accounted for 70 percent of all passenger traffic.
On the other hand, some airport authorities, such as those at
Boston's Logan Airport, have suggested using alternative airports to
ease passenger volume.
Realistic Airline
Scheduling
To combat unrealistic scheduling, DOT
Secretary, Norman Mineta, supports peak pricing alternatives
(schemes that would charge airlines more money to land at the
busiest airports during the busiest times). To make their schedules
look more attractive, airlines deliberately list more flights in
busy periods than airports can cope with. Such flights have no hope
of taking off on time, but journey times are padded out to give them
at least a chance of arriving on schedule. At Dallas/Fort Worth
airport, airlines schedule 57 flight operations in a 10-minute
period around the six o’clock rush hour. Airport capacity is 35
flight operations. Even if the weather is perfect across the
country, and there are no equipment problems, 22 flights will be
delayed during this 10-minute period.
Air Traffic
Control Privatization
There is also talk about
privatizing air traffic control. Recently, Boeing presented the
government with a plan to privatize
air-traffic control, which is currently under review. Canada has
had great success with their program. Since it was established in
1996, the private, nonprofit Nav Canada has cut fees by 30 percent,
increased controllers' salaries, and begun upgrading the country's
air-traffic control (ATC) technology from paper strips to computers.
Satellite Navigation
Eventually, the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to use satellite-based
systems called global positioning satellites (GPS) to
completely change the nation's air traffic control system so that it
can handle more traffic, while easing delays and increasing safety.
This new technology, along with updated airline operating
procedures, would increase capacity by allowing for more precise
landings and take-offs. In addition, these systems will eventually
allow for "free flight," where pilots can choose their own routes
rather than fly in pre-selected patterns, to avoid congestion and
save time.
Make RJ's Fly At Different Altitudes From
Big Jets
Regional jet aircraft (RJs), which fly from
regional towns in America to airport hubs, are adding to the
hold-ups. According to reports published by the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development
(CAASD), as RJs replace turboprops, airline traffic that
normally flies at lower altitudes below 20,000 feet has moved higher
up into the increasingly crowded airspace where the larger jets fly.
There are plans in the U.S. to make regional jets operate at lower
altitudes.
Watch The Weather
Bad
weather accounted for more than two-thirds of flight delays in 2000,
which was a record year for delays nationally. In April, Mineta said
he's considering the possibility that air traffic controllers have
become "overly sensitive" to bad weather—too quick to delay or
divert planes or require extra spacing between them.
In
certain weather situations that now result in delays, Mineta said
that pilots should be allowed to fly around disturbances. New
forecasting measures, along with regular updates from flight
planners, are being used in the U.S. to adjust routes in advance to
help pilots avoid thunderstorms and other weather problems. In
addition, new weather computers (currently utilized in a few
airports) are cutting weather-related air delays. The promising
system cut 50,000 hours of delay a year in tests at New York City's
three major airports. However, the FAA citing "budget constraints"
says the new technology will be placed in only 11 airports by 2003,
instead of the originally planned 33.
Not Fuzzy
Math
So, in the scheme of things, just how much time is
10 million minutes? There are:
- 1440 minutes in a day
- 525,600 minutes in a year, and
- 9,882,182 minutes equals 6862.62 days
- 6862.62 days equals 18.8 years
This isn't "fuzzy math."
Airlines were delayed 18.8 years in one month! Clearly, gridlock in
the sky is rapidly approaching, increasing the risk of accidents. If
"budget constraints" do not allow proven technology to be
implemented in our airports soon, air travel costs will drastically
escalate. It would be an ironic twist that the 1960s technology
currently running much of our air-traffic network ends up taking us
back to 1960s pricing, with air travel being too expensive for the
average consumer.
See the following chart (listed by
airport code) for delays at your airport (statistics for January,
2001):
| Airports |
Arrival Delays
(in
minutes) |
Departure Delays
(in
minutes) |
| Allentown (ABE) |
4,403 |
2,893 |
| Albuquerque (ABQ) |
37,724 |
31,635 |
| Kodiak (ADQ) |
769 |
590 |
| Albany, NY (ALB) |
12,705 |
8,268 |
| Amarillo (AMA) |
4,194 |
3,224 |
| Anchorage (ANC) |
20,508 |
14,670 |
| Atlanta (ATL) |
238,817 |
222,221 |
| Austin (AUS) |
37,085 |
26,469 |
| Asheville (AVL) |
678 |
189 |
| Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AVP) |
960 |
1,198 |
| Kalamazoo (AZO) |
859 |
389 |
| Hartford (BDL) |
33,116 |
27,783 |
| Bethel (BET) |
1,796 |
1,800 |
| Binghamton (BGM) |
1,040 |
712 |
| Birmingham, AL (BHM) |
14,287 |
11,522 |
| Billings (BIL) |
3,221 |
2,079 |
| Bismarck (BIS) |
597 |
344 |
| Nashville (BNA) |
43,590 |
40,478 |
| Boise (BOI) |
15,595 |
12,871 |
| Boston (BOS) |
122,382 |
91,722 |
| Aguadilla, PR (BQN) |
622 |
58 |
| Brownsville (BRO) |
142 |
126 |
| Barrow (BRW) |
426 |
473 |
| Baton Rouge (BTR) |
2,319 |
2,504 |
| Burlington, VT (BTV) |
2,064 |
2,015 |
| Buffalo (BUF) |
15,138 |
12,052 |
| Los Angeles (Burbank) |
28,924 |
27,606 |
| Washington (Baltimore) |
78,628 |
76,572 |
| Bozeman (BZN) |
1,425 |
1,145 |
| Columbia, SC (CAE) |
2,262 |
1,864 |
| Akron/Canton (CAK) |
1,173 |
779 |
| Cordova (CDV) |
627 |
438 |
| Chattanooga (CHA) |
346 |
87 |
| Charleston, SC (CHS) |
5,496 |
3,103 |
| Cedar Rapids (CID) |
3,337 |
2,089 |
| Cleveland (CLE) |
46,094 |
32,761 |
| Charlotte (CLT) |
74,378 |
80,837 |
| Columbus, OH (CMH) |
29,745 |
23,725 |
| Colorado Springs (COS) |
13,022 |
7,282 |
| Corpus Christi (CRP) |
2,969 |
1,259 |
| Charleston, WV (CRW) |
849 |
460 |
| Cincinnati (CVG) |
54,622 |
46,800 |
| Daytona Beach (DAB) |
1,575 |
2,339 |
| Dallas (Love) |
28,950 |
27,863 |
| Dayton (DAY) |
8,440 |
4,604 |
| Washington (National) |
66,708 |
44,837 |
| Denver (DEN) |
116,820 |
130,404 |
| Dallas (DFW) |
186,213 |
170,488 |
| Duluth (DLH) |
466 |
1,110 |
| Durango, CO (DRO) |
473 |
398 |
| Des Moines (DSM) |
4,600 |
4,312 |
| Detroit (DTW) |
106,851 |
124,175 |
| Dutch Harbor (DUT) |
758 |
783 |
| Vail/Eagle EGE) |
2,697 |
2,410 |
| Corning (ELM) |
1,130 |
665 |
| El Paso (ELP) |
21,328 |
17,487 |
| Erie (ERI) |
1,076 |
550 |
| Eugene (EUG) |
2,041 |
1,722 |
| New York (Newark) |
134,740 |
101,162 |
| Fairbanks (FAI) |
4,260 |
3,064 |
| Fargo (FAR) |
1,810 |
356 |
| Fresno (FAT) |
199 |
73 |
| Fayetteville, NC (FAY) |
467 |
367 |
| Kalispell (FCA) |
999 |
1,367 |
| Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) |
64,407 |
63,324 |
| Flint (FNT) |
895 |
315 |
| Sioux Falls (FSD) |
1,698 |
1,378 |
| Ft. Wayne (FWA) |
344 |
225 |
| Spokane (GEG) |
17,332 |
12,575 |
| Grand Forks (GFK) |
753 |
421 |
| Gulfport/Biloxi (GPT) |
529 |
117 |
| Green Bay (GRB) |
1,625 |
968 |
| Grand Rapids (GRR) |
6,951 |
4,934 |
| Greensboro (GSO) |
9,895 |
7,045 |
| Greenville/Spartanburg (GSP) |
3,596 |
2,250 |
| Great Falls (GTF) |
1,308 |
1,196 |
| Gunnison (GUC) |
871 |
458 |
| Hayden (HDN) |
1,576 |
1,763 |
| Helena (HLN) |
635 |
283 |
| Honolulu (HNL) |
22,029 |
20,283 |
| Houston (Hobby) |
39,787 |
42,203 |
| New York (Westchester County) |
3,552 |
4,322 |
| Harlingen (HRL) |
3,576 |
3,154 |
| Huntsville/Decatur (HSV) |
3,771 |
2,408 |
| Washington (Dulles) |
40,175 |
41,082 |
| Houston (IAH) |
102,147 |
77,272 |
| Wichita (ICT) |
5,389 |
3,479 |
| Wilmington, NC (ILM) |
747 |
357 |
| Indianapolis (IND) |
30,925 |
20,984 |
| New York (Long Island/MacArthur) |
8,602 |
6,485 |
| Ithaca (ITH) |
1,234 |
590 |
| Hilo (ITO) |
1,461 |
1,016 |
| Jackson, WY (JAC) |
2,149 |
2,057 |
| Jackson, MS (JAN) |
6,017 |
4,931 |
| Jacksonville (JAX) |
19,523 |
16,158 |
| New York (JFK) |
54,735 |
49,288 |
| Juneau (JNU) |
3,462 |
3,366 |
| Kona (KOA) |
2,819 |
2,097 |
| Ketchikan (KTN) |
2,586 |
1,949 |
| Lansing (LAN) |
1,858 |
964 |
| Las Vegas (LAS) |
159,717 |
167,911 |
| Los Angeles (LAX) |
227,807 |
212,386 |
| Lubbock (LBB) |
3,164 |
2,838 |
| Lexington (LEX) |
3,476 |
1,537 |
| New York (LaGuardia) |
134,212 |
99,323 |
| Los Angeles (Long Beach) |
2,938 |
2,488 |
| Kauai Island (LIH) |
2,364 |
922 |
| Little Rock (LIT) |
9,793 |
6,926 |
| Lincoln (LNK) |
2,043 |
1,234 |
| La Crosse (LSE) |
396 |
216 |
| Midland/Odessa (MAF) |
3,594 |
2,798 |
| Tri City (MBS) |
2,626 |
1,347 |
| Kansas City (MCI) |
52,929 |
44,787 |
| Orlando (MCO) |
102,758 |
91,592 |
| Harrisburg (MDT) |
5,548 |
3,272 |
| Chicago (Midway) |
36,394 |
38,989 |
| Memphis (MEM) |
34,078 |
35,430 |
| McAllen (MFE) |
3,080 |
1,201 |
| Medford (MFR) |
1,977 |
1,513 |
| Manchester, NH (MHT) |
11,979 |
9,613 |
| Miami (MIA) |
69,089 |
78,717 |
| Milwaukee (MKE) |
11,808 |
6,872 |
| Melbourne, FL (MLB) |
1,783 |
730 |
| Moline (MLI) |
1,806 |
1,389 |
| Monroe (MLU) |
2,139 |
1,302 |
| Mobile (MOB) |
4,278 |
3,606 |
| Minot (MOT) |
814 |
611 |
| Madison (MSN) |
3,030 |
1,705 |
| Missoula (MSO) |
1,737 |
1,200 |
| Minneapolis (MSP) |
98,198 |
96,918 |
| New Orleans (MSY) |
41,983 |
33,787 |
| Montrose (MTJ) |
218 |
50 |
| Myrtle Beach (MYR) |
1,144 |
580 |
| San Francisco (Oakland) |
62,791 |
66,222 |
| Kahului (OGG) |
7,080 |
8,130 |
| Oklahoma City (OKC) |
18,192 |
12,910 |
| Omaha (OMA) |
16,820 |
12,817 |
| Nome (OME) |
930 |
875 |
| Los Angeles (Ontario) |
40,278 |
33,198 |
| Chicago (O’Hare) |
272,013 |
246,207 |
| Norfolk (ORF) |
11,765 |
7,148 |
| Kotzebue (OTZ) |
860 |
720 |
| West Palm Beach (PBI) |
28,525 |
25,369 |
| Portland, OR (PDX) |
54,894 |
44,825 |
| Philadelphia (PHL) |
131,707 |
112,419 |
| Phoenix (PHX) |
253,676 |
231,049 |
| Pittsburgh (PIT) |
68,506 |
67,449 |
| Pensacola (PNS) |
4,483 |
2,065 |
| Pasco/Kennewick (PSC) |
1,307 |
907 |
| Petersburg (PSG) |
1,146 |
1,010 |
| Palm Springs (PSP) |
6,022 |
5,197 |
| Providence (PVD) |
19,820 |
14,633 |
| Portland, ME (PWM) |
5,263 |
4,086 |
| Rapid City (RAP) |
704 |
313 |
| Raleigh/Durham (RDU) |
27,225 |
20,767 |
| Richmond (RIC) |
11,137 |
10,068 |
| Reno (RNO) |
30,701 |
28,556 |
| Roanoke (ROA) |
1,302 |
857 |
| Rochester, NY (ROC) |
11,831 |
9,509 |
| Rochester, MN (RST) |
1,734 |
841 |
| Ft. Myers (RSW) |
17,826 |
15,207 |
| San Diego (SAN) |
79,574 |
68,334 |
| San Antonio (SAT) |
33,095 |
22,896 |
| Savannah/Hilton Head (SAV) |
3,486 |
2,507 |
| Santa Barbara (SBA) |
767 |
1,570 |
| South Bend (SBN) |
1,274 |
848 |
| Prudhoe Bay/Dead Horse (SCC) |
382 |
358 |
| Louisville (SDF) |
16,620 |
11,241 |
| Seattle (SEA) |
120,672 |
103,845 |
| San Francisco (SFO) |
153,317 |
128,711 |
| Springfield, MO (SGF) |
1,195 |
717 |
| Shreveport (SHV) |
2,258 |
2,487 |
| Sitka (SIT) |
1,076 |
544 |
| San Jose, CA (SJC) |
71,477 |
65,109 |
| San Juan, PR (SJU) |
37,958 |
35,413 |
| Salt Lake City (SLC) |
87,412 |
87,063 |
| Sacramento (SMF) |
38,646 |
39,801 |
| Los Angeles (Orange/Santa Ana) |
33,336 |
29,862 |
| Sarasota (SRQ) |
3,799 |
3,068 |
| St. Louis (STL) |
149,552 |
134,076 |
| St. Thomas, USVI (STT) |
4,394 |
3,459 |
| St. Croix USVI (STX) |
694 |
558 |
| Sioux City (SUX) |
103 |
213 |
| Newburgh/Stewart (SWF) |
1,134 |
866 |
| Syracuse (SYR) |
10,762 |
5,629 |
| Tallahassee (TLH) |
1,576 |
1,287 |
| Toledo (TOL) |
925 |
203 |
| Tampa/St. Petersburg (TPA) |
64,282 |
52,559 |
| Tri-Cities (TRI) |
488 |
372 |
| Tulane (TUL) |
18,075 |
12,274 |
| Tucson (TUS) |
24,301 |
19,400 |
| Traverse City (TVC) |
489 |
391 |
| Knoxville (TYS) |
4,047 |
2,526 |
| Valparaiso (VPS) |
917 |
356 |
| Wrangell (WRG) |
1,109 |
1,090 |
| Yakutat (YAK) |
426 |
490 |
