Spotlight Vol. 8, No. 19: The Personal Cost of Airport Delays

by Katie Nosker, Research Associate, RPA

To my and my fellow passengers' pleasant surprise, our flight from Newark to Salt Lake City got in early. True, we had to sit on the tarmac for a half hour until "our spot" opened up at the gate - meaning, we were no longer early, just on time - but I didn't care, I was just happy to have made it. It was a good friend's wedding, and I was relieved to know that I would be able to make all of the day's activities, including lunch with the bride and groom, manicures and pedicures, and finally the rehearsal dinner that evening.

I guess it's my work on the future of the region's airports at RPA that had made me so skeptical of my chances of arriving on time. I know that more than one quarter of flights out of Newark Airport are delayed by 15 minutes or more. Of those that are late, they are late by an average of more than an hour. This, of course, is despite the fact that airlines have inflated flight times in order to reduce delay statistics.

Since I also know that delays mount throughout the day, making the likelihood of an on-time arrival much greater in the morning, I booked my flight for 7am. The vast majority of flight delays, in fact, are the result of systemic congestion problems in the airline industry - problems that will only get worse as the volume of air travel increases. The Partnership for New York City estimates that congestion and delays at New York's three airports cost the regional economy $2.6 billion in 2008 and is going to cost the economy $80 billion from now until 2025 if changes are not made. This includes the cost of time lost for passengers, the additional cost to airlines for fuel and staffing, and the cost to shippers of additional shipment transit time. It does not even include less tangible costs, like the trips not taken at all, the cost of missing connecting flights, the lost time from trips taken on a slower mode, or the sheer frustration of the entire experience.

A recent RPA survey gauged public opinion in the region about the problems and, more importantly, the solutions associated with air travel. The results: More than 9 in 10 believe that flight delays are an "important issue for airports to focus on." As for solutions, the most favored ones include increasing the use of Stewart Airport, located about 60 miles from Manhattan in Orange County, as the region's fourth major airport; creating a fast and reliable intercity rail alternative to short-distance flights; and investing in modern air traffic control systems, a technology known as NextGen, which is essentially an advanced GPS system that helps air traffic controllers space airplanes more efficiently and is already in use in other parts of the world.

As for me, I was pleased to use this new-found knowledge to improve my chances of arriving on time in Salt Lake City. But let's face it, we shouldn't have to play the odds, hedge our bets, or cross our fingers that we'll make important engagements and connections when traveling by air. We need an air travel system that functions reliably, safely and efficiently. To learn more about congestion and delays at the region's airports, click here: www.betterairportsnynj.com.