In response to an Airline Quality Rating report released yesterday that found that instances of delayed flights and lost baggage were up last year over 2005, the Air Transport Association, the trade group representing the major airlines, released a statement yesterday.
In short, the airlines attribute the uptick in delays to one of the most contentious political issues in transportation this year: the updating of the air traffic control system and just who should pay the bulk of the bill for the much-needed improvements.
"The 2007 Airline Quality Rating study once again focuses on the symptoms rather than the root causes of passenger and airline frustrations," ATA President and CEO Jim May notes in the statement. He says that since the majority of delays are caused by weather problems that the current system can't handle, Congress must now take its "historic opportunity" to "approve an action plan for the Next Generation Air Traffic Control system ... while ending the multibillion-dollar subsidy of business jets at the expense of the commercial airline passengers."
For the inside story on the big-time Washington battle over restructuring the FAA, see associate editor Angie C. Marek's March 30, 2007, article here. Marek tells us that bills addressing the subject should appear in Congress soon.
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