http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-cfontime1007jun10,0,6296389.story?coll=orl-business-headlines-tourism SUMMER TRAVEL Expect to cool heels at OIA Beth Kassab Sentinel Staff Writer June 10, 2007 Winter storms walloped a jampacked air-travel system this year, causing more U.S. flights to arrive late to Orlando International Airport during the first four months of the year than any other year in the past decade. Nationally, the on-time average for those four months was also the worst on record since the government began tracking the data for major airports. The numbers don't lend much optimism to summertime airline passengers, who can expect major delays if the thunderstorm and hurricane season is as active as some weather analysts project. In fact, an analysis by the U.S. Department of Transportation for the Orlando Sentinel shows that the month of June historically has the worst record for flights departing on time out of OIA. And June and July rank second and third, respectively, as the months in which passengers are mostly likely to arrive late on flights to Orlando. December ranks No. 1. The records for the summer months may come as no surprise -- they are typically Orlando's busiest travel time, with the holiday season a close second -- but they illustrate just how bad things can get if lousy weather enters the picture. "Essentially, there's no slack anywhere in the system," said Darryl Jenkins, an airline-industry expert. "If anything goes wrong, there are massive delays." That's especially true this summer, with jets landing in Orlando at the fullest they've been in years. Airlines are flying about 8 percent more seats into this tourist town from now through August, for a total of more than 9 million passengers, according to airport records. Full airplanes mean less flexibility to reschedule stranded passengers on other flights. On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration's flight-plan system malfunctioned, causing widespread delays that were exacerbated by thunderstorms. Airlines and the FAA have taken steps to try to avoid a repeat of the winter mess earlier this year, when ice and snow caused rolling delays through the system for days at a time. >From January to April, just 72 percent of major airline flights arrived on time at U.S. airports, down from 77 percent the year before, according the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In Orlando, on-time arrivals for those months slid from 82 percent in 2006 to 75 percent this year. In February, when ice storms halted traffic along most of the Eastern Seaboard, Orlando's on-time arrival rate fell to 69 percent from 78 percent during the same month last year. JetBlue was hit hardest by the storms after planning missteps burdened its route network with nearly 1,700 canceled flights, stranding more than 100,000 passengers. "We've learned a lot from this past winter," said Bryan Baldwin, spokesman for JetBlue Airways. The airline, Orlando's fifth-largest carrier, has undergone a major leadership change since then, with founder David Neeleman stepping down as chief executive officer. And, Baldwin said, its operations department is now preparing severe-weather plans that ensure a storm will affect the system only for one day. The plan includes twice-daily meetings that assess weather forecasts and other data to make sure aircraft and crews are stationed in the right regions to avoid being grounded, he said. The FAA this summer also is expanding a program known as "Airspace Flow" to help airlines minimize delays. The technology upgrade allows airlines to opt to fly a longer route around storms instead of staying grounded. Baldwin said the change likely will benefit customers but could bring some extra costs to the airlines. "It's something that we're definitely considering," he said. "It might cause a little bit longer flight time and use more fuel, but in the long run it might allow us to get to the destination faster than holding the plane on the ground." Beth Kassab can be reached at bkassab@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or 407-420-5448. Copyright © 2007 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".