FAA: O'Hare delays plague air system

WASHINGTON - Anywhere you fly in America, your chance of arriving on time has much to do with what's happening at O'Hare International in Chicago.

Persistent delays at O'Hare have a cascading effect through the nation's air system. So federal officials are warning they will fix the problem if the airlines do not.

"As Chicago goes, so goes the system," Marion Blakey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said Wednesday. "We will have to take action unilaterally if we can't come to an agreement."

Blakey summoned executives from every major domestic airline to FAA headquarters in an effort to jawbone them into agreeing to reduce their O'Hare schedules.

O'Hare, which handles cargo and passenger traffic, has more takeoffs and landings each year than any other airport in the world.

On an average weekday this summer, just less than 3,000 planes are taking off and landing at O'Hare. During the first six months of this year, there were 490,987 flights arriving and departing the airport.

About two-thirds of arrivals are on time this year. The systemwide goal set by the FAA is 82 percent.

"If it weren't for O'Hare, we'd be making that goal," Blakey said.

Flights departing behind schedule from Chicago will be late everywhere else they fly that day. Seven in 10 passengers flying to O'Hare connect to other flights.

Many planes pass through Chicago's airspace because of its location - right in the middle of the continent. Sometimes the sky over Chicago gets so crowded that air traffic controllers have to delay flights that land elsewhere.

When O'Hare gets jammed, controllers delay takeoffs at other airports to give O'Hare time to clear out its backlog.

It does not help that the fastest growing airport in the country is about 15 miles south of O'Hare. Midway Airport handles an average of 1,100 takeoffs and landings daily.

Adding to the congestion are small regional jets, which account for four out of 10 flights at O'Hare. Unlike the propeller planes they replaced, regional jets use the same runways and fly in the same airspace as bigger planes, but carry fewer passengers.

Also, unusual weather patterns this year have caused a high number of severe thunderstorms in some of the country's most congested areas - from Chicago east through the upper Midwest, the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

On Wednesday, thunderstorms en route to Chicago caused average arrival delays of 51 minutes.

But airlines, enjoying a resurgence since the Sept. 11 attacks, have compounded the problem by adding too many scheduled flights, Blakey said.

"You can't control the weather, but you can control your schedules," she told airline officials.

Air Transport Association spokesman Jack Evans said more planes have been a boon for consumers. "People are getting an incredible value," said Evans, whose group represents major airlines.

Blakey said the problem started in November, when airlines expanded their schedules.

That month, flights arrived on time 60 percent, down from rates of 75 percent to 85 percent in earlier periods, she said.

United and American airlines, which handle 88 percent of O'Hare flights, agreed to reduce their schedules during peak hours by 7.5 percent.

Other carriers, though, added O'Hare flights to their schedules. United and American have said those airlines are to blame for the worsening congestion.

The resulting increase in delays led to Wednesday's meeting, during which airline executives met individually with FAA officials to propose schedule reductions.

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright