Airport gridlock answers sought

NEW YORK — Simple mathematics explain why New York has become the nation’s worst air-travel bottleneck. Almost every day, more planes are jockeying for space in the sky than the region’s beleaguered air traffic control system can handle.

Finding a solution to the problem, though, has tied the aviation industry in knots: Do you schedule fewer flights? Or, can you find ways to safely get more jets in the air?

A federal task force made up of airline executives, government officials and aviation groups has been discussing both approaches during a series of high-stakes meetings over the past three weeks.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters convened the group in late September, and gave it a warning: Find a fix for chronic delays at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and its sister airports, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty, or be prepared to face a federal order reducing the number of allowed flights.

The talks, led by the Federal Aviation Administration, have been closed to the public, but participants report that one of the primary topics will be “congestion pricing,” a scheme to reduce delays by making airlines think twice about scheduling flights during the busiest times of the day.

Generally, the plan would implement higher fees for planes operating at the airports during the aviation rush hours, which, in New York, coincide roughly with morning and evening commutes.

Supporters of the idea say the extra cost of flying in prime time might lead airlines to shift some flights to less busy periods, and leave rush hour to the biggest jets with the most passengers.

Travelers might opt for off-peak hours too, if tickets for those coveted early evening flights suddenly got more expensive. But limits on the number of planes flying at hours popular for business travelers could hurt the city’s economy.

Congestion pricing faces strong opposition from airlines, who say it will raise costs, discourage airlines from serving smaller cities, and make it harder for passengers to fly when they want.

R. John Hansman, director of the International Center for Air Transportation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said congestion pricing could have benefits at JFK but would be tough to implement.