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Jul 18, 2007 8:39 am US/Mountain
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Why Are There So Many Flight Delays?
by Alan Gionet
DENVER (CBS4) ―
"All of them are full, there's no extra seats," says John Whitelock of Cleveland.
He flies a lot and is one of the people on board 35,000 commercial flights a day in the United States. Those flights that are getting more crowded in an industry that in spite of the increased business still survives on razor thin profit margins or in bankruptcy.
Last year was the worst year in history for transportation delays and the first half of 2007 is even worse. One out of four flights were at least 15 minutes late. The average is now about 40 minutes. And that doesn't account for the time people have to wait when their flights are cancelled, so many believe the picture is even uglier.
Ask just about anyone for a story about flying frustration and you'll get an earful. But let's skip over that and go to the reasons.
They started before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Certainly the additional security added in recent years is causing slow-downs.
America's aging air traffic control system is another. Retired 747 pilot Wood Eppelsheimer says, "Airports are crowded. The air space is crowded. The system is crowded."
The current air traffic control system is based on the technology of the 1960s, its radar based, despite the availability of global positioning satellites. Congress is looking at a $15 billion upgrade that would cut flight times and delays by hundreds of thousands of hours. But it would be years, maybe decades before a new air traffic control system would be fully linked between planes and technology nationwide.
Immediate improvements could be made in busy areas right now by re-directing traffic. But that comes with a cost. In the East, where some of the worst bottlenecks occur, changes would mean routing traffic over more neighborhoods. That would likely result in too many protests.
Eppelsheimer says full flights are part of the problem.
"The old target was 75 or 80 percent so all passengers who wanted to buy tickets would have the opportunity to buy tickets," he said. "In today's world of the economic problems of the airlines, it's not uncommon to see 90 to 95 percent bookings on popular flights."
That means minor problems get bigger, fast.
"It means if there's a mechanical failure or an airport delay the effects are compounding like dominoes all the way through the system," said Eppelsheimer. "There's nowhere to go, generally you can't book another flight."
So what can fliers do about it? Try direct flights. One less flight means one less potential delay. And during the summer, book flights in the mornings, before summer storms brew up. It isn't much, but it might improve the odds.
(© MMVII CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)