Rep Andrews and South Jersey Residents Express Concerns over FAA Airspace Plan

Last week the FAA finally agreed to host a meeting in South Jersey to allow citizens from the area to voice their concerns about the FAA’s Integrated Airspace Redesign Plan.  I want to thank the hundreds of the residents who took time out of their busy lives to participate in this important hearing.  Although I was unable to attend the meeting due to the voting schedule in Washington, please know I remain committed in my opposition to this ill-fated plan.  I will continue working with my fellow members of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation to prevent this air space redesign project from moving forward and adversely affecting the people we represent.

I oppose the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to choose the Integrated Airspace option as their first choice for rerouting air traffic in the Northeast corridor to help reduce delays because it is a waste of taxpayer resources and an undue burden to the residents of South Jersey and Pennsylvania.  It is clear to those of us that have looked at this proposal that the plan will do little to reduce delays but will significantly jeopardize the quality of life for many residents in South Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Using the FAA's own data provided in their Briefing to Congress on March 23, 2007, they project an average delay of 6.26 minutes of delay per flight in the NY/NJ/PHL airspace by the year 2011.  This same data projects a reduction in the delay per flight of a mere 1.27 minutes per flight if the FAA’s preferred alternative is implemented.  The projected reduction of delay per flight at PHL is only 30 seconds.  The FAA Administrator has suggested this plan would save an estimated 12 million minutes of delay annually system-wide and yet their own data suggests a number closer to one sixth that figure. 

Moreover, the FAA cannot say with any degree of certainty how much the project will cost taxpayers. Recently, I met with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and was shocked to learn that no cost benefit analysis exists for this project. The FAA simply “does not know” how much it will cost.  I am absolutely convinced that this project is a colossal mistake at the expense of not only taxpayer’s dollars, but their quality of life as well.

That is why I am working with Rep. Joe Sestack (PA-07) to require the FAA to abandon this plan and develop a new alternative that will adequately address the delays at our region's airports, while also preserving the quality of life for area residents in the most cost effective manner possible.  Together, we asked the General Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study of the FAA Airspace Redesign project.  Recently, the GAO accepted our request and agreed to assess the airspace redesign alternative for the NY/NJ/PHL area. 

In a published report by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General (IG) dated May 2005, the IG raised specific concerns that the FAA cost and schedule estimates for the vast majority of airspace redesign projects was unreliable.  The FAA disregarded these criteria throughout this project .   News reports have estimated that this redesign project will cost between $200-$300 million.  At the Essington, PA public hearing, FAA officials said much more. FAA Administrator Blakey told me in my meeting with her in April that she does not know what the cost will be.  Given that the FAA has failed to produce a cost benefit analysis for this project and cannot say with any degree of certainty how much the project will cost taxpayers, I contend that the method used by the FAA to calculate the benefits and costs of this project are at the very least suspect.   Moreover, they fail to comply with the IG's directives.

I understand that there is a compelling need to address the issue of  flight delays  at  our region's  airports , but I am absolutely convinced that this plan is not the way to do it.    Further it is my belief that unless these critical  concerns  are  properly addressed ,  the FAA should abandon this plan and develop a new alternative that will adequately address the delays at our region’s airports, while also preserving the quality of life for area residents. 

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