It is unlikely that a single silver bullet can solve all of the region's airport woes. Rather, it is more likely that many actions taken together will make a difference. RPA is exploring them all, to address not just today's delays and congestion problems, but to create the capacity to handle the inevitable growth in air travel.
We will determine whether there is a silver bullet or maybe even a cannonball, and which ones are b-bs and which ones are duds. What are we looking at? These:
o Implementing satellite technology to guide planes
o Expanding the region's airport runway capacity
o Diverting regional air passengers to rail
o Redesigning airspace flight patterns
o Better utilizing other airports in the region like Stewart Airport
o Higher prices for peak hour flights
o Banning shorter flights or smaller planes during peak hours
While the effort required and the cost to implement these strategies is likely to be significant, the cost of doing nothing is too great. Airport congestion costs our economy over $2 billion a year and takes an emotional toll on passengers. Flight travel might be down because of the recession but this is likely to change as the economy rebounds. As tough as some solutions are, elected officials and other decision makers must make delay reduction and capacity expansion at our airports a priority.
@BetterAirports