Regulations: Flying at Prime Time

After eight days of negotiations within earshot of Washington’s busy National Airport, airline company officials last week adopted a plan to ease traffic at the six most heavily congested U.S. airports. The carriers agreed to shift an estimated 1,000 flights out of crowded, peak-period slots at major airports in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Denver.

Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole boasted that the new schedules, to take effect by Nov. 1, “will mean fewer delays for air travelers by assuring that fewer planes compete for the same gates and runways at the same time.” Others are less optimistic. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, almost two-thirds of airline delays this year have been due not to overscheduling but to bad weather and technical problems. A shortage of air traffic controllers has also contributed to delays.

The new accord will ease airport congestion in the short run. But aviation experts maintain that problems will persist until the U.S. air traffic system acquires more air controllers, builds more runways, improves computer facilities and develops a better mechanism for deciding who gets to fly at prime time.