=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/10/02/f= inancial0829EDT0029.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, October 2, 2003 (AP) Airports brace for delays as traffic picks up ANDY PASZTOR, The Wall Street Journal (10-02) 05:29 PDT (AP) -- Remember air rage? It seems like forever, but it was only a few summers ago that the biggest problem facing the airline industry was the wave of delays caused by overcrowded, outdated airports. Now, with traffic beginning to bounce back somewhat -- and much of the beefed-up security apparatus in place -- attention is again being focused on the worst choke points in the nation's aviation system. Pilots and industry groups are warning that major airports will soon befacing the same issues that resulted in brutal weather-related delays. Despite the falloff in travel, for instance, Atlanta's Hartsfield International is serving 40 percent more traffic than it was designed to handle. Chicago's O'Hare field, which boasts the most landings and takeoffs of any airport in the world, hasn't built a runway in 32 years. But despite mounting state and federal deficits and the economic woes afflicting air travel, a surprisingly large number of airports are getting massive expansions and improved technology geared at keeping traffic moving. In all, as much as $4.2 billion is being spent this year to improve the country's 15 busiest airports. In August, Miami International Airport opened a new, 8,600-foot runway as part of a master plan to boost capacity by more than 20 percent. Dallas/Forth Worth is pursuing a $2.6 billion expansion including a new international terminal. One of the most unusual projects is geared at a problem in San Francisco that often causes a domino effect of delays regionally and nationally: its infamous fog. The goal is to find a way to enable two planes to land there simultaneously on the airport's parallel runways, even during intense fog or low-altitude storms. Every few weeks around midnight, when air traffic was light and skies we= re clear, pilots from United Airlines and Alaska Airlines practiced flying near-collision approaches. Breaking off their descents barely seconds before touchdown, the twin-engine Boeing 737s would roar back into the sky, circle around and then repeat the aerial ballet. Versions of the innovative techniques being tested in San Francisco are likely to be adopted at other hub airports including those in Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle and the Washington, D.C., area. Still, chronic landing delays are likely to plague San Francisco until t= he new system is in full operation, while passengers at New York's John F. Kennedy International and Miami International will continue to battle some of the worst roadway and terminal congestion. Here is a rundown of some of the main problem areas, as well as the most ambitious projects to speed up travelers. Many of these changes are being driven partly by an eagerness to get on with construction after long battles to obtain environmental and other approvals. * Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, the nation's busiest in terms of total passengers, is sticking with its previously announced 10-year, $5.4 billion plan that, among other things, would add a new international terminal and a fifth runway by spring 2006. Hartsfield wants to convert a 6,000-foot runway envisioned for commuter operations into a 9,000-foot runway able to land the biggest jetliners. It also has proposed extending an existing runway to make sure that even on the hottest days (when aircraft need more distance to take off) international flights can depart with full loads. * Chicago's O'Hare remains wedded to a capacity-expansion plan calling f= or construction of an eighth runway, relocation of three others, and extension of two more, at an estimated cost of more than $3 billion. Instead of relying on the current system of intersecting runways that create delays in bad weather, the plan calls for parallel runways that proponents contend would cut overall delays by more than two-thirds. More-precise, satellite-monitored landing routes should also help alleviate conflicts between aircraft approaching O'Hare and the nearby Midway Airport. * Dallas/Fort Worth International, intent on becoming a more important destination for foreign carriers, is pursuing a $2.6 billion expansion blueprint that includes a new international terminal, able to accommodate 23 wide-body aircraft. Combined with construction of new taxiways and extension of three runways, the goal is to reduce congestion on the ground while allowing the heaviest jumbo jets to depart from either side of the field. * Miami International Airport has its new runway. Other improvements for down the road include taxiways, navigation aids such as instrument landing systems and eventually, added cargo facilities. Terminal expansion also is in the works. * Denver International, the most modern hub airport in the U.S., just opened a $165 million new runway, the largest commercial strip in North America. It lets three airplanes make simultaneous approaches, regardless of reduced visibility. * Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport, one of the few places where overall traffic is growing at a relatively brisk clip, has broken ground on a new runway and will lengthen another one. Completion is scheduled for late 2005. It's part of a $240 million program of airfield improvements currently under way. Some ambitious plans have fallen by the wayside, victims of the tough business climate. Leaders of Los Angeles International Airport, after years of mulling concepts to drastically change or expand runway configurations, have opted for a scaled-down plan that focuses instead on tightening security by providing centralized parking and passenger access. In Pittsburgh (a US Airways hub airport), the talk is all about the economic fallout from potentially deep flight reductions. San Francisco -- despite its pioneering efforts in precision navigation = -- has been hurt by one of the steepest drops in traffic volume. City officials there have shelved plans to build new runways by filling up part of San Francisco Bay. Yet when bad weather restricts visibility, delays become routine and can spread to other airports. On average, rain or thick fog disrupts flights nearly one out of three days. As a result of the recent test flights, the airport has developed new approach routes, cockpit procedures and communication links that could ease congestion. If everything pans out, by late next year 20 percent to 30 percent more planes may be able to land per hour in low-visibility conditions. Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey says the local changes amount to a "major leap" for aviation by finding ways "to fly more planes, close together and more safely than ever before." =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP