Rising air traffic brings jump in problems
Flight delays, runway incursions, controller errors up
From Kathleen Koch
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Traffic at the nation's airports is rebounding, but the Transportation Department's inspector general cautioned Thursday that the improvement hasn't come without problems.
In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Ken Mead warned of an increase in flight delays, serious runway incursions and air traffic controller errors.
The inspector general said that in March, the number of scheduled flights at 13 of the nation's 31 largest airports exceeded the number of flights in March 2000.
But Mead said at Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson and the three New York metropolitan airports, 20 percent to 35 percent of scheduled flights in January and February experienced arrival delays.
The inspector general said there is a good chance of significant summer delays at Washington's Dulles airport, once the new low-cost carrier Independence Air begins operating 200 to 300 departures a day there in June.
On safety issues, Mead pointed out that while the total number of planes mistakenly entering runways dropped 5 percent during the first six months of fiscal year 2004, the number of serious runway incursions is up 38 percent. FAA statistics show there is an average of one runway incursion per day, and one serious incursion every 11 days.
The inspector general said cases of air traffic controllers allowing planes to get too close to each other in flight continue to increase -- up 3 percent during the first half of fiscal year 2004. Mead described such errors as posing a "significant safety risk," with an average of three operational errors per day and one serious error every week.
