By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) – United Airways wants the federal authorities to action in to tackle congestion issues at Newark Liberty International Airport as a runway mend undertaking that began July 6 will cause complications for many summer season vacationers.
United Chief Executive Scott Kirby requested Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Steve Dickson “to quickly and proportionally lessen the range of operations for every hour at Newark although airport potential is constrained by runway construction.”
Newark, which was the 15th busiest U.S. airport in 2020 by complete travellers, has found lengthy flight delays, prolonged taxi delays and numerous cancellations in latest months.
United, which has a hub at the northern New Jersey airport, flies about 65% of all Newark flights.
In the July 15 letter, which has not been formerly reported, Kirby stated that for the duration of a 6-working day period of time in July “the normal range of (Newark) flight cancellations by all airways was additional than 100 flights per working day” which positioned a “significant strain on employees and operations.”
Kirby told regulators that United, which plans to resume a total routine at Newark this fall, wishes the FAA to phase in to be certain that flight reductions are shared equitably among the the airways who fly in and out of the airport. He did not advocate returning to slot controls like these at New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports, however.
Kirby requested FAA to “carry alongside one another all suitable functions to minimize the selection of flights for each hour temporarily and proportionally through July, August, and September.”
An FAA spokeswoman claimed the company is “examining the letter and will respond specifically to” United.
United said it supported the need of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to get the job done on the runways now, when traffic continues to be under pre-pandemic degrees.
But, Kirby included, “it is very well proven that Newark has regularly been the worst-accomplishing airport in the place from an air targeted visitors viewpoint in excess of the past number of decades.”
He additional that “For the duration of the 15-yr period of time from 2005 to 2019, Newark was the most delayed core airport in the technique for 10 of people a long time.”
The Port Authority did not quickly comment on Kirby’s letter.
United is cancelling about 70 of its present-day 240 scheduled flights a working day at Newark because the runway building began, airline officers mentioned. Pre-pandemic it flew about 430 flights a day. (Reporting by David Shepardson Enhancing by Sonya Hepinstall)
