Airlines argue daylight-saving change is costly

[question everything]

Airlines argue daylight-saving change is costly

By Toby Eckert
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

May 18, 2005

WASHINGTON – Financially strapped U.S. airlines are worried that a congressional effort to extend daylight-saving time by two months would disrupt their overseas flight schedules and cost them at least $147 million in lost business. The change, a power conservation effort approved by the House as part of a massive energy bill, would particularly interfere with timed takeoff and landing rights that the airlines have at airports in Europe, an industry group says.

(snip)

Currently, daylight-saving time in the United States and Europe are only out of sync for one week a year. The one-hour time change starts the last Sunday in March in Europe, and the first Sunday in April in the United States. Both end on the last Sunday in October.

(snip)

Most major European, Canadian and Asian airports use timed takeoff and landing slots that "are inflexible and unable to handle changes in the arrivals and departures of U.S. airline flights," the association says. Canada's daylight-saving time coincides with the United States', while few countries in Asia observe the time change.

(snip)

Most U.S. airports are not controlled by timed landing and takeoff slots, and foreign airlines have more flexibility to switch slots at their home airports. That would give them a competitive advantage during the extended daylight-saving time, the association argues. Independent industry analysts were uncertain how much disruption the proposed time change would cause U.S. airlines.

(snip)


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050518/news_1b18airlines.html

[meganmonkey]

1. As Janis Joplin so eloquently said:

"It's all the same fuckin' day, man"

}(

Dalylight savings is so arbitrary. It kinda boggles the mind...

[Solon]

2. Except when crossing the International Date line...

Now that's time traveling!!! :)

[liberal N proud]

3. WTF?

:wtf:

I have an idea, lets make the world all one time zone!:sarcasm:

[siliconefreak]

6. excellent idea

Actually, I agree with your sarcastic idea, but I'm not being sarcastic. We should not only get rid of daylight savings, we should get rid of time zones as well.

Let the world share the same time. We could eliminate this silliness of trying to figure out what time it is from place to place.

[Deja Q]

4. So is a time clock and the implmentation and maintenance of.

[TheFarseer]

5. Why don't we just leave it the hell alone?

Is there a massive outcry from the people straining under the yoke of a non-extended daylight savings time?!?!!? Let it alone and get on to something important!!!

[Rainscents]

7. Doesn't these people have anything else better to do with their times?

What next our congress wants to change?

[dbt]

8. One more time:

When Daylight Saving Time time rolls around next year, everybody set their clocks ahead one half hour and don't touch them any more.

[ckramer]

9. Daylight saving is the most stupid idea ever

Nobody does it except in America. D'uh!

It's an idiotic scheme on the national level.

Waste businesses and citizens billions each year on money, time, energy, and break lots of watches and clocks!

STUPID!

I hope there will be a brave Congressman calling to stop the madness.

[question everything]

10. Actually, it is followed in Europe and Canada and other countries

hence the complaints of the airlines. That changing the timing would put us in conflict with Europe for too long, as opposed to just one week now.

[slackmaster]

14. No, our failure to adopt the Metric System is MUCH worse

Think of the CHILDREN!

:dunce:

[BattyDem]

11. Could someone please explain to me ...

why Congress is wasting their time with this? I mean ... is there some powerful lobby to extend Daylight Savings Time that I don't know about? Does anyone really care about this? :shrug:

Hey Congress ... STOP WASTING TIME AND MONEY ON STUPID SHIT LIKE THIS! :grr:

[Tiberius]

16. actually there is...

It's candy companies (Halloween) and charcoal briquet companies. I'm not joking.

[BattyDem]

17. LOL!

:rofl:

Are you serious? We're going to f*ck up our entire "time system" because of candy and charcoal? WTF has happened to the priorities of my country?

[Tiberius]

18. Your priorities have been sold to the highest bidder!!!

<eom>

[yankeeinlouisiana]

12. Can't our flights just take

off an hour sooner during the extra DLS months?

:shrug:

[Delphinus]

13. I'll go along.

Indiana just passed a law to make us go onto Daylight Savings Time. I'm not looking forward to it.

I agree with other posters who have said the congress critters need to worry about something that really matters.

[napi21]

15. Sooo, couldn't the airlines adjust their US depart and arr schedules

and leave the european arr and dep times as they are? We are only talking about i hour here folks! If your next flight to Rome departed at 7AM instead of 8am or 8AM instead of 7AM, what's the big deal?

They change flight schedules all the damn time. Just leave the inflexible times alone and change those in the US. I really don't understand the hugh costs they're claiming.