Officials ponder fewer flights at JFK

Delay-plagued John F. Kennedy International Airport shouldn’t try to handle more than 80 takeoffs or landings per hour, substantially fewer than are now scheduled for some peak travel times, U.S. transportation officials say.

JFK now has some hours when airlines plan for as many as 100 flights, a number that nearly everyone agrees is more than the congested hub can handle, even in ideal weather.

Airline officials are to meet with the Federal Aviation Administration this month to talk about possible reductions in the airport’s schedule.

The Department of Transportation said late Friday that it had suggested an hourly limit of 80 flights as a starting point for those discussions. It also proposed a target of no more than 44 flights in any given half-hour, or 24 during any 15-minute period.

It’s unclear how authorities would ration flight slots in instances where competing airlines wished to fly more planes than the limit allowed. U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters has said she favors “market-based” solutions to the delay problem but might consider mandatory scheduling restrictions.

The proposed 80-flight limit was criticized by the Air Transport Association of America, a group that represents commercial air carriers, and by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that runs JFK.

“This is a disappointing decision,” the association’s president, James May, said in a written statement. “Slashing operations at JFK alone will not solve the congestion problem but will shut the door on growth for our country’s leading international gateway.”

Port Authority spokesman Stephen Sigmund said his agency this year provided the FAA with 17 other suggestions on handling congestion.

“Putting a ‘no vacancy’ sign on one airport isn’t a solution to the flight delay problem,” Sigmund said. “The right thing for the FAA to do is to implement long-term solutions to meet demand and expand capacity.”

Airlines have been asking aviation officials to take other steps to relieve congestion, including flight-path changes and technological improvements they say could increase the airport’s capacity.

A few airlines operating at JFK, however, have also called for some temporary limits.

JetBlue CEO David Barger asked the FAA in a letter in June to consider imposing flight slot controls “during all hours when scheduled operations exceed the balanced average capacity of the airport.”