Newark slot auction test facing stiff opposition and getting support
The pending auctions by the FAA of two Newark (EWR) slots for a five-year lease is raising the hackles of the Air Transport Association, the New York Port Authority and the normal gaggle of members of Congress who are experts at saying no, without any suggested short-term solutions to the problems of crowded NYC airspace and perpetual delays.
US Air Transport Assn. filed a lawsuit against FAA over its announced Sept. 3 auction of two slots, or one roundtrip, at Newark.
“FAA’s claim that it can use its property management authority to auction slots is intellectually dishonest and a disturbing end run around Congress,” said ATA President and CEO James May. “This administration believes it can ignore the statutory limits of its authority to remake the industry as it sees fit.”
Several members of Congress, in it’s normal can’t do mode, are claiming that there is no law that says the FAA can use the slot auctions to create a market-based approach to overcrowding. Of course, they continue to spew the mantra that we need an overhaul of the air traffic control system even as they refuse to vote on the new program or determine how the new system will be funded.
On the other side of the question, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a person known for getting things done, is all for trying the auction approach. He just sent a letter to the Port Authority urging them to test the system, which is exactly what the Port Authority suit is trying to prevent.
In a letter sent yesterday to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and the executive director of the Port Authority, Christopher Ward, the mayor said the city would like to develop a pilot program similar to the federal government’s proposal in an effort to unclog the airports’ busy runways.
Something tells me that despite the naysayers, the forces of practicality will end up establishing a system of caps and slot auctions that will control the NYC airspace for the next few years, while the politicians and bureaucrats fight over the implementation of the new national air traffic control system.
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