Tired of all those ridiculous, time-consuming delays at metropolitan area airports?
Well, a California research foundation think tank has proposed a solution, one it insists can increase capacity at Kennedy Airport, relieve congestion at Newark-Liberty and LaGuardia and do so without expansion of the overall footprint of the airports.
The answer, the Reason Foundation proposes in its March 2008 study, “Increasing Airport Capacity Without Increasing Airport Size,” is to build a third runway at Kennedy, nestled comfortably between the two main runways and without, it noted, compromising aircraft safety.
A third runway at Kennedy, combined with the Federal Aviation Administration's eventual expected implementation of the NextGen air traffic control system, could increase operations at Kennedy by 50 percent, while increasing operations at Newark by 45 percent and LaGuardia by 10 percent, the study determined.
All of which could translate into better on-time performances, fewer gate delays and more affordable ticket prices — while still increasing volume.
The addition of a third runway, however, would not likely help to alleviate weather-related delays, since the FAA has minimum runway spacing requirements for the minimum distance between parallel runways being utilized for instrument landings and takeoffs.
But, clearly, adding a runway between current runways 4R and 4L at Kennedy would be a good investment in the future of New York — no matter what the cost — since it’s painfully obvious the current system is woefully inadequate when it comes to 21st century traffic.
Study authors Viggo Butler and Robert W. Poole Jr. argue that expanding runway capacity within an airport’s current footprint “would mean that an urban area could receive the economic benefits that come along with continued growth in air service without the protracted battles over land acquisition, and without the long delays attendant to such battles.”
They also noted that in the New York area’s airspace, such improvement could mean that “delays and spacing requirements can be reduced or eliminated,” creating “a very significant increase in New York area capacity can be achieved, allowing the metropolitan area to meet demand for many years to come.”
Considering delays at area airports, such news is sure to be welcomed — if only someone can convince New York and New Jersey officials, as well as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, that this needs to be done. Now.