I saw on Fox News that Delta announced that it plans to increase capacity by 20% nationally next summer at JFK. They also said they plan to add 14 international flights as well. 20% is a big jump. What do you think the chances are of OKC getting a once or twice daily flight to JFK out of this?

99%

Most of the increases on capacity will be internationally. Continental has struggled a bit on their Newark route and that is going into a major hub with a much larger European network. I think the other major issue will be the capacity problems in the New York/Philly air space. That will have a lot influence on what happens.

Expect to see the bulk of initial routes flown on RJs to be east of the Mississippi, including those with grants and subsidies available.

No way does Newark have more European routes than JFK. JFK is THE airport of entry and departure to and from the US.

It's hard to say, the Pres and the Feds yesterday spoke publically about trying to reduce air traffic at JFK by more than 20%.



President vows to cut flight congestion, delays

By Kimberly Hefling
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — President Bush promised on Thursday to take steps to reduce air traffic congestion and long delays that have left travelers grounded. "Endless hours sitting in an airplane on a runway with no communication between a pilot and the airport is just not right,” he said.

Bush met in the Oval Office with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and acting Federal Aviation Administrator Bobby Sturgell. The president urged Congress to look at legislation to modernize the FAA, and instructed Peters to report back to him quickly about ways to ensure that air passengers are treated appropriately and progress is made to ease congestion.

"We've got a problem,” Bush said. "We understand there's a problem. And we're going to address the problem.” After the meeting, Peters told reporters she is asking airlines to meet to formulate a plan to improve scheduling at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, one of the nation's busiest. If no solution is found, she said, the department is prepared to issue a scheduling reduction order.

She said the agency is also improving the department's complaint system and is acting to increase compensation for "bumped” passengers from $200 to more than $600.

Peters said all options are on the table, including forcing airlines to pay more to fly during peak travel periods. Earlier Thursday, airline executives told Congress that paying more wouldn't mitigate the record delays. That strategy "will do nothing more than reduce service to small communities, reduce job growth and raise fares for commercial passengers,” Zane Rowe, senior vice president of network strategy at Continental Airlines Inc., told a Senate subcommittee.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. I am one of those that gets delay almost every time I fly. I fly out of ATL on Thursday nights atleast once a month and I am always delayed. 2 weeks ago I was supposed to depart ATL at 9:15 to Orlando, arriving around 10:10. We didn't leave ATL until mid-night. We spent over an hour on the plane at the gate.

I see more regional jets in the future so airlines can get away from the hub and spoke system.

No way does Newark have more European routes than JFK. JFK is THE airport of entry and departure to and from the US.

I'm speaking purely on a same airline connecting basis. Continental's network out of Newark is amazing. They were the first airline to really push the narrowbodies into transatlantic (well since the days of the 707s and DC8s) and have done a great job linking a lot of mid-sized European cities to Newark. From a SkyTeam perspective, there are some decent connecting options from JFK...not as many as the other airline networks.

Personally, I would like to see the government put slot restrictions back into JFK and also expand to other markets. They really need to force airlines to operate larger equipment to the mid and larger cities and then utilize the regional jets for the smaller and new markets. There are several medium sized cities out there that don't have nonstop service to New York that should get that opportunity. Unfortunately, if airlines keep spending slots on running a dozen RJs in fairly substantial markets...it'll never happen.

Sorry - I'm a little slow entering the conversation. First of all, I haven't heard anything from our Delta folks. Also, I just wanted to remind everyone that United flight to D.C. is a gateway to Europe. United flies to more European cities than I can remember - out of D.C. This was their big marketing angle when we launched this new service this past summer.

I love the airport conversations that take place - and my other love, historic preservation!