NJ & NY SENATORS WELCOME GAO OPINION THAT BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S AIRPORT AUCTION SCHEME IS ILLEGAL

NJ & NY SENATORS WELCOME GAO OPINION THAT BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S AIRPORT AUCTION SCHEME IS ILLEGAL
FAA’s Risky Plan Would Do Nothing to Address Congestion or Delays, Could Drive Up Ticket Prices

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The four Senators from New Jersey and New York, Frank R. Lautenberg, Robert Menendez, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer, welcomed a legal opinion by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stating that the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) does not have the authority to auction off arrival and departure slots at the New York metropolitan region’s airports. The senators have long urged the FAA to take steps to reduce congestion and chronic delays at the region’s airports and have opposed the auction plan as counterproductive and potentially very costly to consumers. Instead, the senators have called on the FAA to modernize its equipment, adequately staff its control towers, and expedite new technology to increase airport capacity.

“Not only is this Bush Administration plan for Newark Airport wrong for fliers and New Jersey residents—this report shows it is completely illegal,”  Senator Lautenberg said.  “President Bush must stop this illegal effort at once, and work with the Port Authority and airlines on a real plan that will actually reduce flight delays without increasing airfares for consumers.”

“Air travelers these days have to contend with maddening delays and questionable safety on top of sky-rocketing airfares in this brutal economy. This auction plan has the potential to make flying at the best times only affordable for business travelers and not for middle class families in our region. That is incredibly unfair – New Jerseyans and New Yorkers should not be priced out of flying at desirable times and should not be at such a disadvantage because they happen to live in this region. This legal opinion is welcome news, and I am hoping that it will set in motion action to reverse the slot auction plan,” Senator Menendez said.

“This legal opinion should be a clear signal to the FAA that their untested and wrongheaded auction plan should be permanently grounded,” Senator Clinton said. “We have seen frustrating delays and cancelations become the norm rather than the exception at New York airports, and instead of offering a real solution the FAA proposed a risky scheme that won’t fix anything and may actually drive up ticket prices. These problems are a product of an air traffic control system that is in need of modernization, and a constant decline in the number of trained technicians and controllers needed keep it up and running. That’s what the FAA should focus on immediately.”

“This once again shows that the DOT needs to put a stop to this ideological battle that would cause chaos at New York airports. The administration has tried to jam through a half-baked plan that can't even be implemented. We have wasted precious time fighting this proposal instead of working to get air travelers moving again,” Senator Schumer said.

Last year the senators secured into law two measures to reduce flight delays and ease congestion in New York/New Jersey airspace. One provision required the federal government to provide a plan to Congress to reduce flight delays in the region, the nation’s most densely congested airspace. The other measure required the GAO to investigate the FAA’s Airspace Redesign Plan, as well as the effectiveness of a variety of approaches used nationwide to reduce flight delays, including the auction plan.

In a legal finding delivered to the four senators, the GAO concluded “that FAA currently lacks authority to auction arrival and departure slots, and thus also lacks authority to retain and use auction proceeds.” The agency said it would challenge the FAA if it sought to proceed with the plan. Read the full legal opinion here: http://www.clinton.senate.gov/documents/news/09_31_08_GAO.pdf.

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