Flight Delays Taking Bite Out Of New York Economy

New York, NY (AHN) - A study released Sunday by Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said flight delays caused more than $5 billion in losses to this city's economy.

"When a plane is sitting on the runway or circling in the sky for hours on end, it isn't only burning time and fuel, it's burning money," the New York Post reported Schumer as saying.

According to data from the three largest international gateways, in 2007 air passengers were delayed by over 10 million hours at the John F. Kennedy Airport, nine million hours at Newark and eight million hours at LaGuardia. The three airports comprise 12 percent of the total delays in all U.S. airports last year.

The delays equal $1.45 billion in lost passengers' time, $1.6 billion in lost income for the local economy and $2.3 billion on airline profits.

Schumer disclosed that the main reason behind the delayed flights were late trips by other air carriers, causing a domino effect. In the process, the delays also cause the release of 900,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

To address these problems, Schumer is pushing for the establishment of a permanent restricted military airspace, broadening the powers of the air czar appointed for the city by the Federal Aviation Administration and the creation of a joint task force to further study the problem.