FAA Finds Alternative Way to Handle Air Traffic in N.Y., N.J., Penn.
April 18, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified a new way of handling air traffic in and around New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
The Integrated Airspace Alternative plan was configured to help reduce delays and increase the reliability of air travel, the FAA said.
The agency identified the preferred alternative as part of the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign environmental process.
After conducting analysis and holding public hearings in five states - New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut - the FAA identified its preferred airspace redesign alternative for the New York area, which would combine high-altitude and low-altitude airspace to create more efficient arrival and departure routes. The preferred alternative is one of four proposals being studied.
"This new concept in airspace design will help us handle the rapidly growing number of flights in the Northeast in a much more efficient way," said FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey. "This airspace has been unchanged since the 1960s, and we need to look at creative new ways to avoid delays."
According to the FAA, the Integrated Airspace Alternative plan would reduce the complexity of the air traffic system operation in the New York area and Philadelphia by more efficiently directing aircraft to and from major airports in the two metropolitan areas.
The preferred alternative would save an estimated 12 million minutes of delay annually for the four major metropolitan airports -- John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport.
The agency expects to publish the final Environmental Impact Statement sometime this summer. A series of five informational meetings, one in each study area state, will be held in late April and in early May to discuss noise mitigation associated with the preferred alternative. The FAA expects to issue a record of decision - the agency's decision on how to proceed with the airspace redesign project - in late summer 2007.
Additional information about the project is available on the FAA web site at http://www.faa.gov/nynjphl_airspace_redesign.
Source: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).