How Political Meddling in New York and New Jersey Causes Airline Delays in the Entire U.S.
Last year, airspace congestion in the New York/New Jersey metro area got so bad that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed flight reductions on the airlines serving LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy, and Newark Liberty airports. Travelers had fewer choices, and still experienced delays in arrivals and departures.
Due to the ripple effects of congestion in the N.Y./N.J. area on other U.S. airports, the FAA estimates that this complex airspace is responsible for up to 75 percent of all U.S. airline delays.
The N.Y./N.J. airspace, which manages arrivals and departures for nine airports from a single facility on Long Island known as N90, is not the only complex metro area airspace. Two decades ago, the FAA launched a program to redesign and simplify the airspace of a dozen major metro areas, including the N.Y./N.J. airspace. This “Metroplex” program concluded about a year ago, but N.Y./N.J. airspace was left out. New York members of Congress, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.), fought and succeeded in keeping N.Y./N.J. airspace unreformed. They considered N90 “their” facility and opposed any changes, especially those that might relocate jobs.Â
A 2023 U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general report identified N90 as having the lowest percentage of fully certified controllers among comparable facilities—just 54 percent of the desired staffing level. A never-released report by the same agency in 2005 found that overtime and sick leave at N90 were off the charts, leading to very low productivity and very high costs. Since that report was never released, the airlines, Congress, and the public were unaware of how bad things were.Â
About a decade ago, the FAA developed a plan to address the understaffing at N90 (and perhaps regain some level of management control). The id
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