Informing and activating Metro NY Residents on solutions to airport delays and congestion

Airport congestion affects our economy and our lives. But it doesn't have to be that way. Solutions exist for smoother, less maddening air travel. 

BetterAirportsNYNJ.com was established by Regional Plan Association to inform and activate Metro New York residents about the problem of airport congestion and delays, offer real solutions for a better future and build the public consensus necessary to make better airports a reality.

Better airports are within reach. 

Browse through, learn more about the problem and take action.

Airspace redesign

The FAA is implementing a four phase plan to redesign the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia airspace, which should be completed by 2012. These changes should reduce delays, improve travel times, and service reliability.

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NextGen is an important component of the FAA's plan to redesign the region's airspace and modernize the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. We must invest in this technology because we need more capacity to meet the current and projected demand for air travel. Physically expanding the airports will likely be part of the solution, but these technologies will help us get more capacity out of our existing facilities and reduce delays.

It is unlikely that a single silver bullet can solve all of the region's airport woes. Rather, it is more likely that many actions taken together will make a difference.  RPA is exploring them all, to address not just today's delays and congestion problems, but to create the capacity to handle the inevitable growth in air travel.  

Congestion and delays have been mounting at New York's three major airports - Newark, LaGuardia, and JFK. According to a recent Newsday article, passengers are responding by using nearby airports, such as Long Island's MacArthur, instead. 

Friday's New York Times reports on the impending closure of runway 13R-31L - Kennedy's longest and most heavily used - for a four month period starting in June of this year.  The delays that may result, along with those from superimposed security delays and always-hard-to-determine weather patterns, have the potential to add up to major frustrations, but the move is a good one for the long haul.

A recent Wall Street Journal article, "An Airline Report Card: Fewer Delays, Hassles Last Year, but Bumpy Times May Be Ahead", confirms Regional Plan Association's findings that flight delays declined in 2009 largely due to the recession, but will probably return worse than ever once the economy recovers. The article notes that Newark Airport beat LaGuardia Airport in 2009 for the spot as the "worst" airport in terms of delays.

RPA is working closely with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to develop a series of recommendations for ameliorating these delays in the New York region's airports. Join the Better Airports Alliance today to make sure your airports improve!

Airport congestion costs the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut regional economy over $2 billion a year, far too high a cost to do nothing.
Air travel passengers everywhere dread the possibility of long delays on the tarmac, explains Richard Newman in an article recently published in The Record. However, the article also explains that these very visible and unfortunate delays are really a "symptom of a bigger problem - an outdated national air traffic control system that has not kept pace with growth in travel." This really gets to the heart of the problem, particularly at the New York region's airports where in 2007 two thirds of the region's flights were delayed and three quarters of delays nationwide were due to the New York region's airports. Let us know how delays affect you!

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