From: Steve Wingate 
Subject: SNET: Air passengers' discontent grows louder
Date: 23 Jan 2001 16:07:34 -0500
To: IUFO , SNETNEWS 

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Air passengers' discontent grows louder  

The Associated Press  

WASHINGTON (January 22, 2001 5:54 p.m. EST 
http://www.nandotimes.com) - Airline flights are being delayed more than 
ever and passenger complaints have reached record levels, according to a 
government report released Monday.  

The Transportation Department's inspector general reported that delays 
rose 58 percent and canceled flights grew by 68 percent in the four years 
from 1995 and 1999. Complaints, meanwhile, increased 16 percent in one 
year -- from 1999 to 2000.  

During the first nine months of 2000, one of every four flights was canceled, 
delayed or diverted, affecting 119 million passengers, the inspector 
general found. The average delay was more than 50 minutes.  

"Meeting the anticipated demand for air travel is an urgent issue," the 
inspector general wrote.  

Congestion in the air has led to a record number of air traffic control errors -
- 1,154 last year -- that allowed two airplanes to fly closer together than 
allowed under Federal Aviation Administration standards. Congestion on 
the ground, meanwhile, resulted in a new record of runway incidents -- 400 
last year -- that could have led to a collision.  

Officials of the airlines' trade group, the Air Transport Association, did not 
immediately return a phone call seeking comment.  

The inspector general, the agency's watchdog, issued its findings in 
response to a request by congressional Republican leaders to identify 
priorities for the Transportation Department.  

The report recommends that the Transportation Department develop plans 
to handling the demand, including new technology and building new 
runways. Without any action, problems are expected to get worse: The 
number of airline passengers is projected to increase by 50 percent, from 
over 600 million last year to more than 900 million in 2010.  

In April, President Clinton signed legislation to provide $40 billion for 
aviation, allowing more flights at Chicago's O'Hare, New York's LaGuardia 
and Kennedy, and Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National airports.  

The bill also allowed airports to raise taxes on passengers from $3 to 
$4.50 a person, a move that could bring in an extra $700 million a year for 
local airport projects.  

In 1999, while Congress considered legislation to force airlines to treat 
passengers better, the industry announced its own plans to improve 
customer service, including mobile computers to help rebook passengers.  

The action came after Northwest Airlines stranded 6,240 travelers on its 
planes in Detroit, some for more than eight hours, during a January 1999 
snowstorm.  

Last month, however, passengers shuttled on and off a Northwest plane 
three times over nine hours because of mechanical and weather problems, 
before the Detroit-to-Miami flight was canceled.  


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