By Philip Newman
“Average delays at LaGuardia in September for many afternoon flights exceeded 48 minutes,” said Hugh Weinberg, counsel for Shulman. And some flights at LaGuardia experienced average ground delay time that surpassed the scheduled time in the air.
He said all the regional carriers routinely canceled scheduled flights at LaGuardia, especially in afternoon and evening hours, to avoid backing up other flights at the airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration last week reported that in September, the most recent period for which statistics are available, LaGuardia accounted for a fifth of all delays in the nation.
“All of these developments have jeopardized LaGuardia's status as an important economic engine for our region and as the most important business traveler's airport in the country,” Weinberg said.
“The borough president warned that something like this would happen before the bill passed,” he said, referring to legislation known as AIR-21, which provides for unlimited regional flights to underserved cities using smaller aircraft with 70 or fewer seats. The idea of such flights was to provide competition to domestic airports where total or near monopoly resulted in fares that some critics said were as high as fares to Europe
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has declared a moratorium on any new flights and last week the FAA announced it would hold a temporary lottery among airlines offering regional flights with the intended goal of drastically reduced the number of such flights at LaGuardia.
“Some of the airlines have reportedly gone to Congress to complain about (the lottery),” Weinberg said, while some carriers have talked to U.S. Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), who has called for hearings.
“Congressman Duncan is reported to have asked whether LaGuardia has considered expansion,” Weinberg said, bringing cries of derision from some Queens Board members, who suggested Duncan obviously did not know that much of the airfield already sits on landfill.
“We do not need more flights,” said Councilwoman Julia Harrison (D-Flushing). “These jets scream over my office every 30 seconds and it is the same at my home.
“What if they have another mid-air collision such as they did over Brooklyn years ago when many people on the ground also were killed? They are playing with people's lives.”
