Flying Our Not So Friendly Skies

Posted by Katrina Vanden Heuvel, The Nation at 8:21 AM on November 22, 2007.

This post, written by Katrina vanden Heuvel, originally appeared on The Nation

While there are extraordinarily important issues to reckon with--ending this catastrophic war and devising a sane national security policy, providing universal health care, and repairing the gutted social compact--fixing our air travel system may be one of the most potent political issues of our time.

An outdated air traffic control system, flight routes from the 1950's, and air traffic controllers retiring more quickly than they can be replaced while the Bush Administration plays hardball on a new contract and imposes work rules-- these are just some of the issues that have led to the airline "industry post[ing] its worst on-time performance since it began collecting comparable statistics in 1995."

Roughly 25 percent of domestic flights run late. And now--with 27 million passengers expected to travel over Thanksgiving and the public taking matters into its own hands with the air passenger bill of rights movement--President Bush has attempted to "solve" the problem with a little sleight-of-hand and a PR effort.

To much fanfare, Bush has opened up restricted military airspace off of the East Coast to create a "Thanksgiving express lane for congested traffic."

But the Bush Administration fails to mention that opening up military airspace is already routine. According to the Washington Post, "Such arrangements are not new. The FAA coordinates daily with the Defense Department and seeks same-day clearance to use military airspace if, for example, weather conditions are better in the military's part of the sky."

Susan Gurley, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, told the New York Times Bush's move is like "putting a Band-Aid on a broken arm." And airline industry forecaster, Michael Boyd, said, "What's all this rah-rah about the holiday season? What's changed? We're just going to stagger on the way we've been doing for the past year, vulnerable to any glitch in the system, vulnerable to any weather issues."

After the collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis I wrote about how our eroding public infrastructure demanded a real public investment agenda (just as I had called for when the levees broke in New Orleans). The antiquated air traffic system is a key part of that agenda. Now the alarms are ringing loudly on that front. So what can be done?

Experts agree that a new satellite-based navigation system is needed to "allow planes to abandon the highway maps and fly freely since a computerized system can check for conflicting flight paths." According to Boyd, airlines are currently limited to using approximately 3 percent of the sky. But that system--called NextGen for Next Generation Air Transportation System--is expected to cost up to $22 billion (less than two months in Iraq and Afghanistan) and won't be ready until 2025. Who's going to pay for it?

What is happening in the air is a microcosm of what's happening on the ground with the hedge funders. When it comes to the air traffic control system, private jet owners "incur 16 percent of the costs but pay only 3 percent." And just as hedge funders sent their lobbyists to Congress to defeat the effort for a saner tax system, so too are these tourists in corporate jets fighting to hang on to their unjust privilege of using the skies on the cheap.

But even once the navigation system is built, the runways available for arrivals and departures are still limited, and airlines are over-scheduling. A source in the FAA says that airlines will have to either cut back the number of flights, use larger airplanes instead of smaller commuter flights, or serve more regional airports (which customers are often reluctant to use). Raising landing fees might be one way to move in that direction. According to the New York Times, a Boeing 737 landing in Kennedy pays only about $800--"often far less that the price of a single full-fare ticket." (Three-fourths of the chronic delays nationwide are linked to delays at Newark, LaGuardia, and Kennedy.) As for corporate jets, at most airports they don't pay any landing fee at all, according to the FAA source.

And then there is the labor issue. Recent near midair collisions have highlighted the staffing shortages and fatigue of our air traffic controllers, who have been working without a contract since September 2006 under imposed work rules - including lower wages and longer hours - leading many to retire early, and more quickly than they can be replaced. New hires are therefore often assigned to major metropolitan airports instead of being trained slowly in less trafficked areas. Jeff Richards, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NACTA) at the Chicago Center, told the New York Times he has "long been worried about staffing levels and increased workloads." According to Richards, "These minor infractions are really the calling card of a much bigger problem." And Patrick Forrey, president of NACTA told NPR, "We haven't had any major accidents. Well, all the signs are leading up to the fact that we're going to."

Meanwhile, passengers have grown increasingly frustrated and travel horror stories are commonplace. Kate Hanni, a California real estate agent who was stranded for eight hours on a runway last December, founded the Coalition for Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights that now has 21,000 members.

Among its proposals are: allowing passengers to get off of the plane after it has been on the tarmac for longer than three hours; refund tickets at 150 percent for bumped passengers or passengers delayed by cancellations or postponements over 12 hours; provide food, water, sanitary facilities, and access to medical attention during delays lasting longer than three hours. Good legislation is pending in the House and Senate though the Bush Administration has offered no support.

"The Administration has still not commented on the passenger bill of rights legislation that is currently in Congress...." Hanni recently said.

"This would finally guarantee basic rights to the 27 million passengers who are expected to fly in the coming days. Opening up little-used military air lanes in the northeast is like adding a lane to an exit ramp on I-95 north of Miami.... The fact is that the airlines must be compelled to overhaul their scheduling practices, and provide travelers with basic human necessities...."

This issue is waiting to be seized by a political leader who will link it to our decaying infrastructure and the desperate need for public investment. Let's hope that we don't wait for the next disaster before taking significant steps towards safety and sanity in our skies.

Tagged as: bush, labor, airlines, airline travel

Katrina vanden Heuvel is the publisher of The Nation