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An Open Letter to the President – We at FareCompare.com
applaud the decision to open up military airspace to commercial airlines during the upcoming Thanksgiving travel period; I am only sorry you were busy when I called to tell you this personally (White House Operator to FareCompare: “The President is unavailable.” FareCompare: “Are you sure?”) But this is what I really want to say: Open the military airspace EVERY day of the year, or at least for part of each day. |
As you know, Mr. President (and for those of you who didn’t read my earlier earlier blog post, let me repeat this), the military airspace in question lies between Florida and Maine, and is normally closed due to military training flights. By opening it up, you have, in effect, opened up two new “routes” for jetliners. This will allow them, in many cases, to fly around bad weather (instead of through it), and we all know bad weather is a major source of delays.
So how about we open this up EVERY day of the year?
We know there’s always plenty of legroom on Air Force One, but for us average fliers, well, it’s getting very crowded on-board. As airlines continue to decrease/restrain their capacity (with more smaller jets) and the number of passengers domestically per flight continues to increase (up to 90% this summer and predicted worse over the peak holiday travel days in the coming weeks).
We don’t begrudge airlines trying to increase stockholder value, and make no mistake, they are making money as demand continues to stay strong in the wake of unprecedented fuel prices — the airlines are executing their business plans and by all accounts this strategy is “working” (even in the face of record fuel prices) and is not likely to change soon.
The downside, however, to this rosy airline financial outlook is when planes are full, and there’s the slightest little problem (say, bad weather), it tends to have a “ripple effect” on schedules all down the line — there is simply no where to put passengers when inevitable problems occur. And it doesn’t just affect the passengers; don’t forget all those people waiting for their loved ones to arrive.
Here’s another idea: if military space can’t be opened every day, how about opening it for specific time periods each day?
I don’t expect to hear from you personally, but perhaps I will get some response from the messages I’ve left with the FAA. In any event, I hope you’ll give this some thought.
After all, this is a problem that affects so many Americans, from businessmen and women to students, from vacationers to government employees.
Yes, there is a problem. And I say, let’s fix it!
Sincerely,
Rick Seaney
CEO, FareCompare.com
Hi, I am an Air Traffic Controller. Having another route to dodge the weather is great. But the fact is the planes still land and takeoff from the same runways. The capacity of the airports runways are the real problem. More airports and more runways is the right direction, but that takes time and money, OH and someone willing to live next it of course.
Amen to that! I agree we should all send letters to our representatives and the President. This issue should also be brought up in the presidential debates.
As an air traffic controller let me tell you military airspace when not used IS opened almost every weekend, and each and every day. The American public has been dupped into thinking the president did something. HE DID NOTHING. The only thing that will relieve conjestion in the Northeast is more pavement to land grandma and your lovely family. It is NOT the skies that are too crowded, it is the pavement to land and take off from that is too crowded. I implore you to read up and seek more information. Another factor in the delays that occur is weather. I can promise you, it is not physically possible to go through, land, and take-off in some of this weather. I definitely agree there is a huge problem with the aviation system, but it is so much bigger than this joke of a fix. I appreciate your interest. I just am so frustrated by political games. They know their is a problem, and have refused to look at it. Then, the week before Thanksgiving they come up with a plan we use every day. I can not believe how out of touch the leaders are. Please read this blog, http://themainbang.typepad.com/blog/
it is written by an ex-air traffic controller fed up by this system. Sorry to vent. I just hate for you to be lied too.
Rick, I applaud your suggestion to open up military airspace, but there’s one problem that must be taken into account. MA restrictions are there for one reason only. To allow rapid launch of our defense aircraft in national emergencies.
If the fighters have to weave and zig zag their way thru passenger airliners flying in their launch areas, it’s going to slow down response time to the point of ‘what’s the point’
I appreciate your concern for the airline problems, but put it in perspective. After 9/11 we spent several days being unable to fly ANYWHERE. People adjusted and life went on. We now have horrendous security processes…..I travel too, and that’s the worse part of any trip for me. We adjusted to them, and life goes on.
Life won’t go on as we know it if we give away all our defense and protection windows.
Sorry this went on so long, old military folk tend to ramble a bit.
Thanks
LK
As a pilot for a major airline, I would like to add that opening up military airspace will do nothing. Nada, Nix. The problem lies with too many flights, not enough runways, antiquated Air Traffic control rooms.
Solution? Cut back on flights. Update control equipment. Our skies are already TOO CROWDED AND DANGEROUS. Its short of miraculous that we have not had any serious accidents… yet.
Rick,
Don’t fall into the trap of headlining an idea without understanding the full implications of what you are talking about. The over water warning areas are incredibly important training spaces for our military, and as noted by another reader, they are routinely open when not in use.
CaptainJack is on target that our core problem stems from flying too many planes, and a good number of them are small commuter a/c that take the same airspace but carry far less people than a “full size” carrier.
Rick, while I am glad you want to help with this problem, please keep in mind the reason this space is restricted to begin with. As a civilian family with the Air Force in Germany, we do a bit of flying and do not like delays any more than the next person. That said, we understand the need for this restricted space. Our security is extremely important, and the military works hard to ensure this. I support them completely and can live with some inconveniences to allow them to do their job more effectively.
I’ll keep this on the front burner by stating 1 and 3s posts are right on. For this press conference to have been taken seriously is laughably absurd. This action again does NOTHING.
I posted my immediate reaction to this nonsense – which mirrors Rebeccas
http://www.futuregringo.com/index.php/2007/11/15/aviation-window-dressing/ :
This will have absolutely NO bearing on airport congestion whatsoever. The problem isnt lack of space in the sky or the availability of routes. It all comes down to the airport environment being TOO crowded, and having TOO MANY flights scheduled.
The public may not be educated in the intricacies of ATC like the posters above and myself even as a low time private pilot but they dont deserve to be lied to.
This is as dumb as nagging on the ATCs old technology as a cause for your delays:
http://www.futuregringo.com/index.php/2007/08/29/time-magazine-studies-air-travel-delays/