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David Stempler, President of the Air Travelers Association, the
airline passenger/consumer representative on the New York Aviation
Rulemaking Committee to reduce aviation congestion and delay in the
New York metropolitan area, pleaded today, in advance of statements by
the Bush Administration, "Please Mr. President and Secretary Peters,
don't raise airfares and cuts flights to and from the New York/Newark
metropolitan area by capping flights at JFK and Newark Airports. Many
laws are made and repealed in Washington, but it is the 'law of supply
and demand' that cannot be repealed by any Administration. By limiting
the supply of flights at JFK/Newark, with the demand remaining the
same, fares in the entire New York/Newark metropolitan area will shoot
up. That's not the result that passengers wanted in exchange for
lowered delay flights."
According to Stempler, "Aviation congestion in the New York/Newark
metropolitan area is a delicate balance between low fares, flight
time, airport choices, and delay. Proposals to limit or cap airport
operations called 'slots', slot auctions, and even the now discarded
congestion pricing idea for airports, only will have bad results for
passengers -- higher fares and fewer flights. Airline passengers are
not interested in reduced flight delays at the cost of significantly
higher airfares and significantly fewer flights." Stempler continued,
"New Yorkers, remember those $69 fares to Ft. Lauderdale? Well you can
forget about it! They are going to go up to $169, $269, $369, or
higher. Who knows? But that high fare flight is going to be on time.
What a deal!"
David Stempler continued, "The Bush Administration has taken a bad
idea and made it worse with slot auctions. Everybody on the Committee
was generally in agreement that a slot auction for new slots was an
acceptable idea. But taking away slots from airlines that have
invested billions of dollars in facilities at New York/Newark airports
and planes to service them, seem to us patently unfair. It reminds me
of Hugo Chavez's nationalizing of oil companies in Venezuela. Most
Americans find that offensive. Is nationalizing airline slots what
we've come to in this country because someone spent 30 minutes extra
waiting to take off? I say no!" Stempler concluded, "Fair is fair, and
this is not fair!"
Stempler continued, "These caps on flights at JFK and Newark are
just a Band-Aid(R) on a festering disease. Delays are just one symptom
of the disease, but near collisions on the air and on the ground are
another. The real, long-term solutions to these safety and efficiency
problems is to put into service a new, safety-based, GPS, next
generation air traffic control system ('NextGen'), as soon as
possible. Airline safety, savings, and service depend on it."
David Stempler concluded, "The Air Travelers Association calls
upon the following U.S. Government officials to convene an aviation
summit of all of the interested aviation parties -- the legacy
airlines, low fare carriers, regional airlines, airline passengers,
airports, corporate jet and private aviation operators -- to find a
solution to the current funding stalemate, that would start the
implementation of NextGen immediately.
President George W. Bush;
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters;
Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV, Chairman of the Senate Aviation
Operations, Safety, and Security Subcommittee;
Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on
Transportation, House and Urban Development, and Related Agencies;
Congressman Jerry F. Costello, Chairman of House Subcommittee on
Aviation; and
John W. Olver, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on
Transportation, House and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.
The Air Travelers Association suggests that Kenneth Feinberg be
appointed by the Government to be the mediator of such a summit. Mr.
Feinberg was selected by Attorney General John Ashcroft to administer
the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, established by the
Congress shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks. He has
also handled other complex legal disputes over the past 30 years,
including Agent Orange, asbestos, and the closing of the Shoreham
Nuclear Plant. According to Stempler, "There is no finer, world-class
mediator than Kenneth Feinberg, and the aviation industry would be
fortunate to have him for the aviation industry summit".
The Air Travelers Association
(http://AirTravelersAssociation.com), founded in 1997, advocates for
airline passengers on airline safety, security, savings, and service.
David Stempler, President of the Air Travelers Association, is an
internationally known authority on airline passenger and air travel
issues. He was the airline passenger/consumer representative on the
New York Aviation Rulemaking Committee to reduce aviation congestion
and delay in the New York metropolitan area
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