Better Airports Now

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.

Airports: the London Experience

July 27, 2010 1:46 PM

Regional Plan Association, the Better Airport Alliance and the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management held a morning breakfast forum on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 on how airports in the United Kingdom have dealt with congestion issues. Chris Cain, Chair of the Forum of Regional European Airports and head of the Airport Development Team at Newquay Airport in the United Kingdom, described the challenges and strategies for addressing delays and economic losses caused by growing air congestion. Mr. Cain, also co-author of "The Future of Air Transport," a seminal white paper on planning for airport growth in the United Kingdom, discussed the London experience, drew comparisons to New York and touched on how other European airports - Frankfurt, Paris, Brussels - adapted as well. As the New York-New Jersey region continues to think about how to address the most severe congestion in the nation, lessons from other airports can help shape our own solutions.

See Chris Cain's Presentation
Listen to the audio
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Terminals: Why they Matter

July 12, 2010 4:29 PM

Terminals are a critical piece of the airport system, they must efficiently transition passengers between ground services and their awaiting flights. To accomplish that goal, terminals host a number of functions including:

Passenger ticketing
Baggage check-in and retrieval
Security checking
Holding areas for departing and connecting passengers waiting at gates to board aircraft
Areas for "meters and greeters"
Convenience areas for passengers so they can dine or shop
Circulation space allowing passengers to move from gate to gate and elsewhere in the terminal
Ground access connections, including rental car service, shuttle buses and connections to local transit.

These important functions must be designed with the airside reality in mind - especially where the landside and airside meet, at the gates. Terminals are designed to accommodate aircraft in and out of the gate areas as effectively and efficiently as possible, and provide space for ramp towers that control the movements of aircraft in the terminal area. The seamless integration of ground transportation services is another critical terminal component, which ideally provides a variety of transportation options (private auto, taxi, buses, rail, etc..) for arriving and departing passengers.

The Better Airports Alliance is off the Ground

July 1, 2010 9:24 AM

A coalition of business, civic, labor and environmental organizations announced the formal launch of a campaign to restore, maintain and expand the New York Metro region's airports on Tuesday. The "Better Airports Alliance" aims to educate residents on the problem of airport delays, provide fresh solutions to relieve congestion and build a consensus for major improvements.

Continue reading The Better Airports Alliance is off the Ground.

Terminals at LGA

June 16, 2010 3:25 PM

LGA has four terminals, with over half of its traffic served by the Central Terminal Building (CTB). This structure is owned and operated by the Port Authority and has circulation constraints and limited gate capacity. The Port Authority is planning to replace the CTB with a modern structure that will address these limitations and just recently starting planning and designing the new terminal.

Continue reading Terminals at LGA.

Terminals at EWR

June 14, 2010 10:45 AM

The design of EWR's three terminals is largely uniform since they were designed and built together in the 1970s. Terminals A and B were completed and opened in 1973, while Terminal C sat empty until 1988 when it was completed for People's Express. They all either have finger piers or satellite with finger piers configurations.

Continue reading Terminals at EWR.

Flying gets mixed report in March

June 1, 2010 1:11 PM

On-time performance for airlines improved nation-wide this March, declares a recently released USA Today article. In fact, the 18 largest US carriers' domestic on-time arrival rate reached 80% in March, better than the prior year's rate of 78%. Extreme weather accounted for about 42% of delays.

Continue reading Flying gets mixed report in March.

Volcano's Ash Disrupts Air Travel around the Globe

April 26, 2010 4:30 PM

Eyjafjallajokull, the Icelandic volcano whose ash has spread all over Europe, has wreaked havoc on air travelers and air transportation around the globe. While the cumulative economic impacts of Eyjafjallajokull will not be known for some time, to date 100,000 flights have been canceled; thousands of passengers have been stranded; airlines lost more than $1.7 billion through last Tuesday, according to an International Air Transportation Association report; and supply chains have been distrupted for everything from electronics to fresh fruits and vegetables. In an increasingly globalized economy and air system, disruptions in one region, or even in one airport, can have rippling effects throughout the rest of the world.

Continue reading Volcano's Ash Disrupts Air Travel around the Globe.

NextGen helps JFK and LGA use more runways

April 22, 2010 11:32 AM

Currently, in bad weather conditions ILS approaches on 13R at Kennedy essentially limit LaGuardia to just one runway. NextGen would remove this conflict by allowing aircraft to use the closer-in curved approach under all weather conditions.

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