DOT 111-07
Friday, October 19, 2007
Contact: Sarah Echols
Tel.: (202) 366-4570 or
U.S. Department of Transportation Sets Flight Reduction Targets for JFK
Scheduling Meeting
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Transportation today released its
target figures for the number of daily flights that can safely be handled at New
York’s JFK airport in advance of next week’s schedule reduction meeting between
the FAA and airlines, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters.
These initial targets are required by statute to begin the scheduling reduction
meeting and to determine the flight reductions required to reduce congestion at
JFK. The meeting will be held Oct. 23-24 in Washington.
“Our strong preference is to develop market-based solutions that will address
delays and preserve passenger choice,” Secretary Peters said. “But we will
consider scheduling reductions as a last resort in order to prevent a repeat of
this summer’s nightmare delays.”
Secretary Peters said that from 6 a.m. to 9:59 p.m. local time daily, the target
for the number of flights per hour is 80, except for 3 p.m. to 7:59 p.m., when
the target will be 81 flights. To efficiently space flights throughout an entire
hour, the Department also set a 30-minute maximum of total flights at 44 and the
15-minute maximum at 24 flights.
In addition, to evenly spread demand for both arrivals and departures and to
make the best use of the airport’s runway configuration, the number of arrivals
or departures may not exceed 53 in any one hour period, 29 in any 30-minute
period or 16 in any 15-minute period, Secretary Peters said.
To set the targets, the FAA reviewed hourly arrivals and departures from July
2005 through July 2007. The review determined an increase in capacity, from 74
operations per hour between July 2005 and June 2006 to 81 from February through
July 2007. However, during the same period, airlines increased their operations
at JFK by more than 40 percent, causing on-time arrival performance at the
airport to slip to 59 percent in July 2007, she said.
The scheduling meeting is part of a multi-pronged approach to address chronic New
York delays, Secretary Peters said. She has also charged a group of airline,
airport and travel officials with developing a series of market-based measures
to reduce congestion at New York’s three major airports before the start of the
2008 summer travel season.
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for more information on the target and the meeting.