Washington Headquarters Press Release

FAA Puts Temporary Measures in Place To Control LaGuardia Congestion

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Aviation Administration is implementing temporary measures to control congestion at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, in anticipation that the current rule that sets a limit on the number of flights each hour will expire by January 1, 2007.

The temporary measures, which go into effect on January 1, 2007, permit 75 scheduled and six unscheduled arrivals and departures per hour from 6 a.m. through 9:59 p.m., from Monday to Friday, and the same number of hourly flights from noon to 9:59 p.m. on Sunday.

“These interim measures will help us transition in an orderly way while we develop a final rule to better manage delays at LaGuardia,” said FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey.

Because of LaGuardia’s close-in location, there is a high demand to fly in and out of the airport, but the airport has no room to expand. The FAA, over the course of nearly 40 years, has applied rules to govern the allocation and use of LaGuardia’s limited capacity, to prevent congestion there and across the rest of the country.

The comment period on the proposed new rule to relieve congestion at LaGuardia closes on December 29, 2006.

The Federal Register notice for the interim order can be found at: http://frwebgate3.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=2388862978+1+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve.