This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. F.A.A. Chief Wants Power to Ration Flights July 29, 2002 By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON, July 26 - The departing administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration is urging Congress to let the agency ration flights at busy airports like La Guardia. Jane F. Garvey, whose five-year term as administrator ends on Aug. 4, recently extended for two years a stopgap lottery system that was begun at La Guardia in 2001 to limit congestion and delays. The aviation agency said at the time that it acted because La Guardia delays were spilling over to other airports. Work on a permanent system for regulating traffic was interrupted by the Sept. 11 attacks, which reduced air traffic and destroyed the offices of La Guardia's operator, the aviation department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in the World Trade Center. But another reason for the delay in a permanent system is doubt that the agency has the authority to decide who may use an airport when airline demand exceeds the airport's capacity. Ms. Garvey wants Congress to resolve that doubt. "We are facing some places where there is no other option" but to ration what the airports call slots for arriving jets, Ms. Garvey said in an interview at her office on Wednesday. The aviation agency has reorganized air routes and installed computer tools to reduce congestion, but "it's not just technology that's going to solve the problem," she said. Ms. Garvey did not name the other airports where demand for landing slots would exceed supply, but federal law limited landings at La Guardia and Kennedy in New York, O'Hare in Chicago and Reagan National in Northern Virgina for decades before Congress lifted the restrictions in 2000. But since the airline industry was deregulated two decades ago, airlines have added so many flights that many could not fly on time. Delayed takeoffs and landings at La Guardia created a cascade of other delays there and elsewhere. In March 2001, Norman Y. Mineta, the secretary of transportation, said he supported increasing landing fees to discourage traffic at peak periods. But Ms. Garvey said that she did not think existing law permitted her agency to do more than raise fees at some times and lower them at others so that the total revenue did not change. To produce the desired effect on traffic, she said, fees must be far higher. Ms. Garvey and others have said that any solution will have to balance the interests of airlines, travelers from major cities flying in big planes and those from smaller cities in small planes, which require the same runway time as large planes. But Michael Wascom, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, the trade group for the major airlines, said: "There is no current or looming congestion-related delay problem of any consequence in this country. Whether measured by airline on-time trends or by the F.A.A.'s own data, the facts do not justify the actions being considered by the government." "In the post-Sept 11 environment, the Transportation Department and the F.A.A. should focus on increasing capacity rather than restricting demand," Mr. Wascom added. "Continuing to upgrade air traffic control capabilities and pouring concrete for new runways is a more appropriate course of action." William P. DeCota, the director of aviation at the Port Authority, said, "We would need to know more about the details of such a proposal before we could express an opinion about it. But clearly, there is a need for both the F.A.A. and airport operators to have greater authority to intervene when airport operations reach intolerable levels." Ms. Garvey said one problem for her agency after Sept. 11 had been keeping a focus on safety, after security suddenly became the big issue. "It's a very big challenge, and it's going to continue to be a challenge," she said. "The fact of matter is there are only so many resources to go around, and security is demanding a great many of those resources." But, Ms. Garvey said, the aviation agency is making progress on several fronts. A proposal for preventing fuel tank explosions, like the one that destroyed TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747, off Long Island six years ago, is almost ready, she said. After the four hijackings on Sept. 11, Congress took responsibility for security from her agency and gave it to the new Transportation Security Administration. Now that agency is likely to move to the new domestic security department. Ms. Garvey said another change, privatizing the air traffic control system, which has long been discussed, was now unlikely. The government already has all the reorganization it can handle, she said. After she leaves office, Ms. Garvey said, she hopes to work in the transportation industry. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/29/national/29AIRP.html?ex=1028955926&ei=1&en=e79dbbe6d2a5144d HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company