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Fact Sheet

New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign - Summary

Background

The basic air traffic structure of the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area airspace was designed and put into place in the 1960s. In the ensuing years, the volume of air traffic and the type of aircraft that use the National Airspace System have changed significantly. However, the structure of the airspace has not been adequately modified to address these changes, which have outpaced the airspace’s ability to meet demand.

The airspace controlled by the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia air traffic control facilities is one of the busiest in the world. The area, in the northeastern corridor of the United States, is a hub for domestic and international air traffic. Inefficiencies in this airspace create a ripple effect that routinely impacts major portions of the National Airspace System.

Increased air traffic levels exacerbate limitations of the current airspace structure and air traffic control procedures. The following are some examples of how that happens:

• Final approach courses for Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia Airports are restricted and do not allow for optimal aircraft sequencing to the runways.
• Airspace sectors are currently associated with specific airports, which cause an unbalanced use of the airspace, which requires excessive communications among controllers.

The prime mission of the FAA is to ensure that aircraft arrive and depart airports safely, both in the study area and throughout the country. The following are some of the safety-related inefficiencies that currently exist in the study area:

• Arrivals for airports to the north of the study area must be assigned high altitudes to avoid conflicts with the New York Metropolitan Area traffic. This creates the need to cross several traffic flows in a short distance while descending.
• Airspace restrictions require incremental changes in altitude for arrivals and departures, which causes radio frequency congestions associated with additional control instructions.
• High performance general aviation aircraft operating out of satellite airports are restricted to less efficient altitudes below major airport flows. This creates increased controller workload to resolve traffic conflicts.

Delays are expected to increase in the future as traffic levels increase. The following are some causes for current delays:

• Aircraft that depart the New York Metropolitan area to the Washington D.C. metro area are sequenced onto the same routes that are used for long-haul destinations, such as aircraft heading to Los Angeles.
• Severe weather that occurs during periods of heavy traffic reduces flexibility for aircraft rerouting which results in delays.
• During peak demand periods individual arrival fixes can become saturated while other arrival fixes are underused.

Airspace Redesign has the potential to independently address the inefficiencies of the study area airspace and conversely, to increase the efficiency and reliability of the airspace. Specific assumptions and objectives were developed for the airspace redesign alternatives. The assumptions are the common conditions upon which the alternatives were conceptualized. The objectives reflect the project’s purpose and need and the public concerns on the airspace redesign.

Some of the assumptions included the fact that point-to-point navigation would be used, that terminal area separation standards would apply over a larger airspace area and that present day restricted and prohibited areas would remain in place. Some of the objectives used in the development of airspace alternatives included the reduction of congestion in airspace sectors, shorter routes, the creation of a flexible airspace structure, and allowing aircraft to operate at higher, more fuel-efficient altitudes for longer period of time.

The following concepts were used to develop detailed airspace alternatives that met the objectives developed for the redesign project:

Four Corner-Post Concept

This concept starts with placing a square over the TRACON airspace as the basic structure. Arriving aircraft enter the TRACON airspace at any of the four corners of the square. Arriving aircraft are allowed to proceed to any of the four corners for entry, avoiding delays further from the TRACON airspace. Once aircraft enter at the corner, they can proceed to another corner, enter the square and go directly to the intended airport, or enter into a large overhead circular pattern to await final permission to proceed to their destination airport. Departing aircraft would exit the box on any of its sides. This four corner-post operation is most effective in a single airport operation. The concept would not work for the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign. Arrival and departure streams are concentrated in the west and southwest quadrants and the north and east quadrants are limited by requirements for over-water operations and warning area restrictions.

Modifications to Existing Routing Concept

This concept involves modifying the current routes and procedures to improve efficiency in the current airspace system. For example, routes could be added into and out of the TRACON airspace, which would reduce congestion on current routes.

Ocean Routing Concept

The Ocean Routing Airspace Alternative is a proposal developed by the New Jersey Citizens for Environmental Research (NJCER) at the request of the New Jersey Coalition Against Aircraft Noise (NJCANN). IT sends all Newark Liberty international Airport departing flights over the Raritan Bay to the Atlantic Ocean before turning them back over land to their departure gates. The purpose of this alternative is to reduce the impact of noise impacts on the citizens of New Jersey. Since this concept does not meet the purpose and need for the proposed action, it would have been normally eliminated from further consideration. However, because of NJCANN’s concerns, the FAA elected to retain the Ocean Routing Alternative for detailed analysis.

Clean Sheet Concept

A clean sheet or “area concept” was initially explored as a concept that would be developed within the boundaries of the current New York Center and New York TRACON airspace. It was determined that the constraints of those facilities did not facilitate the use of the clean sheet approach. This concept evolved into an integrated airspace concept that used some of the design elements of the clean sheet area concept and then added elements that more efficiently integrated the functions of the New York TRACON and New York Center to operate more seamlessly in either a standalone or consolidated manner.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement is available on the following website:

http://www.faa.gov/nynjphl_airspace_redesign