Results tagged “philadelphiainternational”

A new plan adopted by the FAA yesterday hopes to decrease delays in airports around the nation by 20%. The focus of the plan is on airports in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelpha, where delays can cause a ripple effect on the rest of the nation's air traffic. The Airspace Redesign Project, as the FAA is calling it, is supposed to modernize the systems in the affected airports (Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, and Philadelphia International) and help prepare for the future. Additionally, the FAA says that the project will reduce noise levels for more than 600,000 people, and reduce fuel burn and emissions by 20% by 2011.

Excellent timing for Thanksgiving week air travel. Senator Charles Schumer has taken various data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to confirm what we all suspected: LaGuardia, Kennedy, and Newark airports have the worst on-time arrival records amongst the 33 busiest airports. He says our three area airports are "not functioning as world-class airports." The facts: 30% of JFK's flights arrived late, while 33% of Laguardia's were late...and Newark placed last with 34% late flights; the national average is 25%. The FAA says that there are other factors involved not included in the statistics, such as weather issues and how slight weather issues affecting crews (if a crew is delayed, they may not be able to work the next flight). But Schumer wants the FAA to pony up money for funding for the three lagging airports, so perhaps the FAA has reason to accentuate the positive. Schumer is concerned that the crappy airport performance will negatively affect the tourism economy. And he probably doesn't want Senators Santorum or Specter to start crowing about Philadelphia International Airport as a good option for NYC tourists to fly into.

On Sunday, the NY Times said that many New Yorkers are taking flights out of Philadelphia to save money, because the NYC area airports are really expensive. The cheaper fares are mainly coming from US Airways, which slashed its fares. While this may be true, Gothamist is still really surprised. Mainly because it takes about two hours to get to Philly (it's not like choosing between Oakland and San Francisco if you're in the Bay Area), then tack on the extra time you need to get through security and screening, and you've basically put half a day into your travel time - is a deal that's $100 cheaper worth the emotional hassle? If you live in NJ, or you're traveling in a huge pack of people, Gothamist would understand why taking flights from Philly would be attractive, but it still seems like a lot of work. The Chinatown buses we get, this not so much, but we'll be looking into it the next time we plan a trip.