Are slot controls the answer to chronic flight delays and cancellations?

One solution that has been proposed for the delays and cancellations plaguing U.S. air travel is slot controls - by which the government would cap the number of flights allowed at the nation's busiest airports.

Point: George L. Donohue, Ph.D.
Slot controls are the fastest, most direct way to fix U.S. air travel.

In July, the Government Accountability Office issued a report to Congress that noted that, since 1998, flight delays and cancellations have increased by 62 percent while the number of scheduled flights has increased by only 38 percent. Among industrialized nations, the United States is nearly unique in allowing airlines to schedule flights in excess of airport safe operating capacity.

The fastest and most direct way to bring order out of our current chaotic situation would be for Congress to mandate that the Department of Transportation (DOT) establish slot controls at all DOT-designated congested airports. These slot controls should be set at 80 percent of maximum safe capacity; detailed study and analysis at the George Mason University Center for Air Transportation Systems Research have shown that a 20-percent buffer would provide the most predictability and highest volume of flights allowed by current air-traffic-control rules.

The second step is for Congress to pass legislation allowing airports to allocate slots to airlines through an auction process - thereby encouraging the airlines to use the slots more efficiently.

Rising fuel prices are here to stay, and the cost of moving passengers by any mode of transportation is increasing. Only operational restrictions and market forces can lead the airlines out of their downward spiral of profit-starving, poor service, and cutthroat competition. Indeed, the airlines' dire predictions of rising prices and loss of service to small communities are already coming to pass under our current market rules. And that has nothing to do with slot controls.

George L. Donohue is director, Center for Air Transportation Systems Research (http://catsr.ite.gmu.edu), and co-author of Terminal Chaos: Why U.S. Air Travel Is Broken and How to Fix It.

Counterpoint: James C. May
Slot controls would stifle demand and hamper competition.

The right questions are: What can be done to prevent flight delays? And, what will be the result of slot controls? The answers are clear: We must modernize our air-traffic-control (ATC) system and dismiss the idea of restraining demand through controls.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must move swiftly to implement next-generation technology that is capable of meeting the demand placed on it by the millions of Americans who travel and ship goods every day by air. Americans pay for ATC services every time they fly or ship a package, but they no longer receive full value for their dollar.

Two fundamental points must be considered. First, America benefits from a highly competitive airline industry. Airlines provide a broad menu of fares and services to hundreds of destinations. Since deregulation in 1978, airfares, in real terms, have declined - making air transportation a tremendous bargain.

Second, the airline industry's share of flights handled by ATC services has shrunk as the use of business jets has grown. This means that today's congestion is due, in part, to corporate and private aircraft that fly in the same airspace and use the same ATC services as commercial jets. And FAA data shows that business aircraft demand for airspace and ATC services increases during peak morning and afternoon hours, which magnifies their impact on the system. This trend will only accelerate as airlines continue to cut capacity in response to skyrocketing fuel prices.

Stifling demand hurts airlines, consumers, and many smaller communities by artificially constraining competition, services, and growth; fares tend to go up and service options shrink. At a time when U.S. airlines are struggling just to survive, artificial constraints are the wrong solution for everyone.