This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ THE DREAMERS - IN SELECT CITIES FEBRUARY 6 Set against the turbulent political backdrop of 1968 France when the voice of youth was reverberating around Europe, THE DREAMERS is a story of self-discovery as three students test each other to see just how far they will go. "Pure Bertolucci," proclaims The New Yorker. THE DREAMERS makes its North American premiere at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thedreamers/index_nyt.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ Tripling of Capacity for Air Traffic Is Sought January 28, 2004 By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 - The secretary of transportation called Tuesday for tripling the air traffic capacity of the United States in the next 15 to 20 years to make room for more jet taxis, private jets, airliner traffic and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. The secretary, Norman Y. Mineta, said that air travel was recovering from the terrorist attacks of 2001 because of improved security and a rebounding economy and that new runways, control towers, air traffic computers and other improvements were being added. But, Mr. Mineta said, "the changes that are coming are too big, too fundamental for incremental adaptations of the infrastructure." If the United States wants to retain global leadership in aviation, he said, "we need to modernize and transform our global transportation system, starting right now." In a speech to the Aero Club of Washington, an aviation group, Mr. Mineta announced that he was naming John J. Hamre, a former under secretary of defense, to lead a research, engineering and development advisory committee. The Federal Aviation Administration is trying to improve coordination of its work with the Pentagon, the Department of Commerce and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to develop technology to increase air traffic capacity. Before the terrorist attacks, the aviation agency had been struggling to keep up with demand for air traffic services, but the number of flights dropped sharply in the following months. Now there are signs that the air traffic capacity is becoming tight in some sites again, partly because the number of passengers is rebounding. Another reason is the proliferation of smaller commercial airplanes called regional jets, many seating well under 100 people, which are supplanting bigger planes. As a result, the number of flights has grown faster than the level of passengers in some places, so more planes are flying fewer passenger. "The passenger count is down, but we're about back to where we were because of aircraft movements," said one expert, Robert E. Robeson, the vice president for civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group. The trend may continue, because the airlines were having trouble filling all the seats on the bigger planes, and the smaller jets use less fuel and are generally flown by pilots who are paid less. Mr. Robeson said that tripling the air traffic capacity might be necessary, if point-to-point travel in smaller airliners replaced hub-and-spoke systems. And jet manufacturers are producing small engines that could some day allow private planes to fly at airliner altitudes, he said, a development that would require more air traffic control services. Unmanned aerial vehicles are pilotless airplanes now used extensively by the Defense Department in war zones, and the F.A.A. says it expects the aircraft may be used for border patrol duties, inspecting power lines and other domestic purposes. Because the aircraft have no pilot, they require extra work by air traffic controllers. Last week the F.A.A. announced that it had won an agreement to reduce delays at O'Hare Airport in Chicago by having American Airlines and United Airlines, which both operate hubs there, reduce their peak operations by 5 percent. Delays at O'Hare had been building and causing delays around the country. Before Sept. 11, 2001, the government restricted operations at La Guardia Airport in New York because of delays. But Mr. Mineta said Tuesday that rationing airport use could not be a long-term action. Mr. Mineta focused on one technology for increasing capacity, satellite navigation, using the Global Positioning System or related systems. That is more precise than radar and allows planes to be flown closer together without increased risk of midair collision. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/28/national/28AIR.html?ex=1076301673&ei=1&en=035d84d98390f27f --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. 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