US to use "express lanes" in sky to cut air delays = = = = Wednesday March 24, 6:45 PM EST = By John Crawley WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - Air traffic managers now have authority = to hold flights at secondary airports in certain circumstances to clear u= p congestion at bigger ones in a novel bid to shorten air travel delays, = officials said on Wednesday. The option worked out with airlines will give takeoff priority to flights= delayed at least 90 minutes at major airports. They will then be routed = through high-altitude "express lanes" to hasten their trip. The plan is m= eant to spread out waits and minimize the impact of delays nationally. There are 35,000 commercial passenger and cargo flights in the United Sta= tes each day. "It's not just a question of redistributing the pain, it's lessening the = pain for everyone so that people can get to where they are going," Marion= Blakey, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, told repor= ters. = Previously, delayed flights at congested airports waited to be scheduled = into the normal flow of traffic. Reducing delays, even by minutes, saves airlines money on fuel. Late flig= hts can mean higher costs for aircraft crews and maintenance, and ineffic= ient use of aircraft. The new approach to briefly hold flights is directly aimed at operations = of the biggest carriers, which dominate virtually all major airports and = continue to struggle financially. But Bill Wangerien, vice president of operations planning at Delta Air Li= nes (DAL), said the plan was a breakthrough of industry and government co= operation that will benefit the entire industry. While far fewer passengers are flying than were before the 2001 hijack at= tacks and the industry continues to struggle, airlines are running nearly= as many flights on smaller aircraft as they were 2-1/2 years ago on bigg= er planes. This type of traffic has been steadily growing and the biggest airlines c= ontinue to concentrate most of their flights around the busiest cities, l= ike Chicago and New York. Additionally, secondary airports like Chicago Midway have experienced sha= rp growth from low-cost carriers that have gaining strength and sharing a= ir space with the biggest airlines. These trends have pushed the FAA to avoid a repeat of 2000 when record su= mmer travel and congestion combined to create unprecedented delays. The a= gency has restructured air traffic strategies since, although the propose= d 2005 budget would cut $400 million from traffic modernization programs.= Most air traffic delays are caused by bad weather, and summer is traditio= nally the worst time of the year for thunderstorms that can wreak havoc w= ith air travel if they occur at busy times along heavily traveled routes.= The Transportation Department held off on forcing airlines to limit their= schedules at peak times, but said that would be an option if the FAA str= ategy to reduce delays does not work or if scheduling becoming a bigger p= roblem. = =A92004 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS