In another day of travel mixing chaos at Newar Liberty International Airport, United Airlines CEO is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce flights at airports that are compliant with delays.
In a May 7 letter to employees, United CEO Scott Kirby said the FAA should “return back to Level 3 slot-controlled airport (Newark)” and bans airlines from scheduling more than 77 flights per hour.
The letter shows the CEO's latest response to the widespread ongoing flight disruption in Newark. United operates a huge hub in Newark.
“All other high-capacity constrained airports in the world use slots to ensure that the number of scheduled flights at a given time does not exceed the maximum airport capacity,” says Kirby. Newark “is the only big airport in the world that no longer has these basic rules of common sense.”
The FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor were there any US airlines operating in Newark.
FAAs can set slot limits at airports that deem their infrastructure insufficient to meet demand. They categorize them as “Level 3” airports and currently only three are in that category: John F. Kennedy International, New York Ra Guardia, and Ronald Reagan Washington National.
At these airports, the FAA will award “slots” that allow takeoffs and landings.
Newark is one of four US airports classified as “Level 2” by the FAA. With them, agents do not limit flights. However, we will coordinate flight schedules with those airports to minimize crowds.
The FAA reclassified Newark from Level 3 to Level 2 airport in 2016.
In his letter, Kirby urges the FAA to return Newark to level 3, performing flights 44 per hour during the ongoing runway construction, and to operate every hour after construction is complete.
According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, flight disruptions began to pile up in Newark last week after the ATC system failed and the controller seized its absence due to factors including “trauma.”
In response, Kirby said last week that United was cutting 70 flights in Newark.
However, Kirby's May 7 letter argues that other airlines simply fill those cuts with those new flights, unless the FAA limits operations through slots.
