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http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2...s-plan-to-auction-airport-slots/index.html?hp
August 4, 2008, 12:42 pm
Port Authority Will Block U.S. Plan to Auction Airport Slots
By Sewell Chan
Defying the Bush administration, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced on Monday that it would block any flights that result from the federal government’s plan to auction off departure and arrival slots at the three airports in the New York region. The Port Authority said the federal plan would “have a severe negative impact” on air travel and “would be illegal without Congressional authorization.”
The Port Authority’s decision contradicts a much-debated proposal that was introduced last year by the United States Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, which want to introduce market-based pricing schemes as a way to reduce flight delays, and could result in a legal showdown between the federal agencies and the Port Authority.
The Port Authority, which has added its voice to a chorus of Democratic critics of the Bush administration’s plan, said it was acting “to prevent airline ticket prices from sharply increasing,” by an estimated 12 percent. The authority, which convened a task force on flight delays last year , said the auctions “would increase ticket prices while doing nothing to relieve or mitigate delays and congestion” and would reduce service between the New York region and small and medium-sized markets.
Moments after the Port Authority’s announcement, Senator Charles E. Schumer, who has tried to block the plan through an amendment to an appropriations bill, said in a statement:The D.O.T. appears hell-bent on jamming this unworkable plan down the throats of the Port Authority and New York City air travelers, but we are going to fight them every step of the way. The Port Authority is absolutely right to block the D.O.T.’s efforts. The bottom line is this harebrained, untested scheme will cause chaos at our airports, raise fares, and reduce travel options and not ease delays one bit. The D.O.T. needs to back down from this crusade and finally take the obvious steps of updating antiquated technology and fully staffing New York’s air traffic control towers so we can finally deliver some long overdue relief.The Port Authority, which is in charge of the Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark Liberty airports, filed a notice of proposed action banning flight activity for slots acquired by auction. The action would also prohibit any other use of the airports — like the lease of gate space in terminals or parking positions on the airfield — by aircraft that acquired slots by auction. An exception would be made for aircraft emergencies. As required, the authority opened the proposed action for public comment, which must be received by Aug. 18.
The auction plan was the subject of a fierce debate during a Congressional hearing in Washington last month, as City Room reported.
At the hearing, Mr. Schumer blamed flight delays in large part on the failure to adequately fill vacancies among air-traffic controllers, while D. J. Gribbin, the general counsel to the United States Department of Transportation, defended the auction plan, saying in a prepared statement:Although market-based mechanisms are the most effective way to allocate scarce resources—like slots—we have taken a very conservative approach to introducing these mechanisms with this proposal. The vast majority of hourly operations at the airport, as much as 90 percent or more, would be “grandfathered” and leased to the existing operators for non-monetary consideration. The market-based aspect of our proposal involves auctioning off leases for only a limited number of the remaining slots.At the heart of the debate is a basic disagreement over the cause of worsening flight delays. Mr. Schumer and the Port Authority have put most of the blame on antiquated technology and vacancies among air-traffic controllers, while federal authorities believe, as Mr. Gribbin said in June, that “a lack of competition keeps fares high” by helping large airlines to maintain their dominance of the market while operating inefficiently.