lowecur
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AWA said unusual weather at LAS was to blame for their poor showing in on-time arrivals. LAS countered that AWAs overuse of MESA RJs and using LAS as a hub in lieu of O&D is hurting the airport. Sounds like LAS is not too happy with AWA, but it probably doesn't bother SWA since they just took on PHL.
Today: February 14, 2005 at 11:09:34 PST
America West says McCarran congestion cause for concern
By Richard N. Velotta
[size=-2]LAS VEGAS SUN[/size]
TEMPE, Ariz. -- With the number of daily departures of commercial flights at McCarran International Airport closing in on the 500 level, America West Airlines is getting increasingly concerned about the airport's congestion.
Airline executives at the company's annual media day last week pinned part of the blame for a decline in on-time arrivals and departures of America West flights on congestion issues at McCarran.
"A lot of it involves weather issues," said Jeff McClelland, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the airline.
America West reported that air traffic control and Federal Aviation Administration-related delays for the airline increased by 47 percent in 2004 over the previous year. Comparatively, in 2003, similar delays were up only 4.4 percent.
The airline's percentage of flights that were successfully completed fell from 99 percent in 2003 to 98.5 percent in 2004, in part because of cancellations related to weather.
Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, confirmed that 2004 -- especially in late November and December -- was a bad year for weather delays at McCarran.
The reason, he said, is that only two directions for approaches on existing runways, from the east and from the south, have instrument landing systems and of the three levels of performance of those systems, McCarran's is the lowest rated.
That means that when the cloud ceiling and visibility drops, there has to be more distance between landing planes. McCarran has four runways for takeoffs and landings, but their use is restricted when bad weather sets in.
"When instrument flight rules take effect, the number of flights that can be handled at McCarran falls from about 110 an hour to about 65 an hour," McClelland said. "Two or three years ago, it wasn't a big deal because there weren't enough flights to affect the capacity. But that isn't the case anymore because the place is growing so rapidly."
Added Walker, "If you have 80 flights an hour coming in and you can handle 110, if you reduce it to 65, there's going to be a backlog. You can get caught up when it goes back up to 110. But if you have 110 flights an hour and you drop it to 65, it takes longer to catch up."
McCarran isn't high on the priority list for getting upgraded instrument landing systems since the weather is favorable most of the time.
"The most sophisticated instrument landing systems will allow pilots to land without even seeing the runway," Walker said. "The federal government puts those types of systems into places like Chicago and Minneapolis, places with severe weather issues. Here, the weather's great 350 days out of the year. But there's no question that in these last few months we've had weather delays that are much more serious than usual."
While flight-delay statistics include problems America West experienced in foul-weather stations like Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, McClelland said delays reported at McCarran are somewhat alarming.
As of January, America West and its America West Express commuter partner operated by Mesa Air, had 120 flights a day at McCarran, representing nearly a quarter of the commercial flights at the airport.
In the past year, the number of daily commercial departures at McCarran increased 9 percent, from 456 a day to 497. But there are hundreds of other operations, including charter flights, cargo, air tours, general aviation and private aircraft and military flights controlled by air traffic controllers.
Although America West officials say they are concerned about congestion issues at the airport, they'll also be the first to admit that the leisure markets of the fast-growing Las Vegas and Phoenix markets -- the airline's two hubs -- have been the key to the airline's business.
McClelland said America West isn't advocating any rush to develop a new airport -- a solution McCarran has in its long-range plans when the airport hits capacity sometime in the next decade. McClelland suggested that capacity for commericial aviation could be freed if more private jets and general aviation flights were diverted to Henderson Executive Airport or North Las Vegas Airport.
McCarran officials are trying to use that strategy by charging less for fuel and amenities at the outlying airports.
But Walker also pointed out that America West feeds the congestion problem by scheduling several low-capacity regional jets on flights to Las Vegas.
"A 50-passenger regional jet operation takes the same amount of time on the runway as a larger jet," Walker said.
"I'm really not enamored with all the small jets they're bringing in because it reduces our potential capacity."
Walker also said McCarran tries to encourage non-hubbing traffic. Many of America West's new flights are designed to connect passengers going to other destinations. "That's not what we want to build our airport facilities for," Walker said. "We'd rather have passengers that are making Las Vegas their final destination to feed our economy."
Today: February 14, 2005 at 11:09:34 PST
America West says McCarran congestion cause for concern
By Richard N. Velotta
[size=-2]LAS VEGAS SUN[/size]
TEMPE, Ariz. -- With the number of daily departures of commercial flights at McCarran International Airport closing in on the 500 level, America West Airlines is getting increasingly concerned about the airport's congestion.
Airline executives at the company's annual media day last week pinned part of the blame for a decline in on-time arrivals and departures of America West flights on congestion issues at McCarran.
"A lot of it involves weather issues," said Jeff McClelland, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the airline.
America West reported that air traffic control and Federal Aviation Administration-related delays for the airline increased by 47 percent in 2004 over the previous year. Comparatively, in 2003, similar delays were up only 4.4 percent.
The airline's percentage of flights that were successfully completed fell from 99 percent in 2003 to 98.5 percent in 2004, in part because of cancellations related to weather.
Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, confirmed that 2004 -- especially in late November and December -- was a bad year for weather delays at McCarran.
The reason, he said, is that only two directions for approaches on existing runways, from the east and from the south, have instrument landing systems and of the three levels of performance of those systems, McCarran's is the lowest rated.
That means that when the cloud ceiling and visibility drops, there has to be more distance between landing planes. McCarran has four runways for takeoffs and landings, but their use is restricted when bad weather sets in.
"When instrument flight rules take effect, the number of flights that can be handled at McCarran falls from about 110 an hour to about 65 an hour," McClelland said. "Two or three years ago, it wasn't a big deal because there weren't enough flights to affect the capacity. But that isn't the case anymore because the place is growing so rapidly."
Added Walker, "If you have 80 flights an hour coming in and you can handle 110, if you reduce it to 65, there's going to be a backlog. You can get caught up when it goes back up to 110. But if you have 110 flights an hour and you drop it to 65, it takes longer to catch up."
McCarran isn't high on the priority list for getting upgraded instrument landing systems since the weather is favorable most of the time.
"The most sophisticated instrument landing systems will allow pilots to land without even seeing the runway," Walker said. "The federal government puts those types of systems into places like Chicago and Minneapolis, places with severe weather issues. Here, the weather's great 350 days out of the year. But there's no question that in these last few months we've had weather delays that are much more serious than usual."
While flight-delay statistics include problems America West experienced in foul-weather stations like Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, McClelland said delays reported at McCarran are somewhat alarming.
As of January, America West and its America West Express commuter partner operated by Mesa Air, had 120 flights a day at McCarran, representing nearly a quarter of the commercial flights at the airport.
In the past year, the number of daily commercial departures at McCarran increased 9 percent, from 456 a day to 497. But there are hundreds of other operations, including charter flights, cargo, air tours, general aviation and private aircraft and military flights controlled by air traffic controllers.
Although America West officials say they are concerned about congestion issues at the airport, they'll also be the first to admit that the leisure markets of the fast-growing Las Vegas and Phoenix markets -- the airline's two hubs -- have been the key to the airline's business.
McClelland said America West isn't advocating any rush to develop a new airport -- a solution McCarran has in its long-range plans when the airport hits capacity sometime in the next decade. McClelland suggested that capacity for commericial aviation could be freed if more private jets and general aviation flights were diverted to Henderson Executive Airport or North Las Vegas Airport.
McCarran officials are trying to use that strategy by charging less for fuel and amenities at the outlying airports.
But Walker also pointed out that America West feeds the congestion problem by scheduling several low-capacity regional jets on flights to Las Vegas.
"A 50-passenger regional jet operation takes the same amount of time on the runway as a larger jet," Walker said.
"I'm really not enamored with all the small jets they're bringing in because it reduces our potential capacity."
Walker also said McCarran tries to encourage non-hubbing traffic. Many of America West's new flights are designed to connect passengers going to other destinations. "That's not what we want to build our airport facilities for," Walker said. "We'd rather have passengers that are making Las Vegas their final destination to feed our economy."
