FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday,
August 21, 2001
Contact:
Bill Mosley
Tel.:
(202) 366-5571
DOT
84-01
DOT
Requests Comment On Market-Based Approaches To Reducing Flight Delays
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today published a request for public comment on the feasibility and effectiveness of using market-based approaches to relieve airport congestion and flight delays. This notice, and others to follow, is intended to help provide the department with data and perspectives on a range of policy alternatives to address the problem of congestion and delays.
Market-based approaches are pricing systems that can be implemented at airports to encourage air carriers to use scarce airport capacity more efficiently. They have been used in other industries to achieve a better balance between supply and demand, resulting in a facility or service being used more than otherwise during off-peak, and less during peak, periods.
“Flight delays have been a serious problem for the summers of 1999 and 2000, and there is no quick fix to the problem of aviation congestion, but that doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility of working to solve the problem,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said. “Market-based pricing may be one part of the puzzle toward reducing congestion at some key locations in the near term and this action allows us to better understand how market-based options might work.”
In addition to other DOT analytical efforts, responses to this notice will help policy-makers better understand the implications of market-based pricing, including its possible impact on reducing flight delays, as well as on airline competition, general aviation, airfares and small-community access to important air travel markets.
The notice is not airport-specific, nor does it endorse a specific market-based approach – such as congestion fees, auctions, or flat fees – or any specific regulatory proposal. DOT will evaluate the comments submitted to develop appropriate policy on issues associated with the design, implementation, and impacts of the possible application of various market-based pricing regimes at airports. The department also invites the public to address possible administrative solutions to relieving congestion, including potential impacts on airport operations, air traffic congestion, general aviation, airline competition and small community service.
Delay problems at New York’s LaGuardia Airport are the subject of a separate notice and comment proceeding. On June 12 a notice was published in the Federal Register requesting comments on alternative policy options for managing capacity and mitigating congestion at LaGuardia in the long term. Comments to that notice are due by Oct. 12.
Comments
on the notice issued today are due within 90 days.
The department’s notice and comments received on the notice may be
obtained via the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov,
docket number OST 2001-9849.
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