US airlines scolded on overscheduling amid delays

[dArKeR]

WASHINGTON - About one-fifth of airlines' flight arrivals were delayed in the first quarter, prompting a warning in the Senate Tuesday to carriers about overscheduling flights.

“As air traffic has grown, so have delays,” Kenneth Mead, Transportation Department inspector general, told the Senate Commerce Committee's aviation subcommittee. Arrival delays averaged 21 percent in the first quarter.

Mead said the number of flights in the quarter approached or exceeded the same period in 2000, a record year for congestion, and was up 24 percent over the January-March period last year. Chicago O'Hare is the most congested with 37 percent of flights held up. Delays there averaged just over an hour.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5013059/

[amazona]

1. here we go

In summer 2001 the news story of the day was the gov't and public scolding airlines for flight delays. If the feds had been decisive and made it emphatic that an attack was coming and it was more important to screen than to have 90 pecent flights on time, then 9-11 might never have gotten out of the starting gate.


So three years later and the news media is pushing another round of screaming about delayed flights? I mean, USA Today also did a story on this issue a couple days ago, claiming long lines to get through security and not enough screeners hired.

What is the deal here? Do we learn nothing?

Keep pushing the airlines to meet some artificial percentage of on-time flights and I guarantee some bad guys will get through a rushed security force. You can't both hurry people AND expect them to do a perfect job with no errors.