FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION AIRSPACE REDESIGN AND CONGESTION MANAGEMENT -- FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION AIRSPACE REDESIGN AND CONGESTION MANAGEMENT -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION AIRSPACE REDESIGN:AN ANALYSIS OF THE NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY/PHILADELPHIA PROJECT -- Why GAO Did This Study -- What GAO Recommends -- What GAO Found -- RESULTS IN BRIEF -- BACKGROUND -- FAA COMPLIED WITH KEY LEGAL REQUIREMENTS IN CONDUCTING ITS ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW FOR THE REGIONAL AIRSPACE REDESIGN -- FAA's Statement of Purpose and Need Complied with Requirements -- FAA's Range and Evaluation of Alternatives Complied with Requirements -- FAA's Decision Not to Consider Environmental Effects of the Potential Growth Inducement Resulting from Airspace Redesign Complied with Requirements -- FAA Complied with Public Participation Requirements -- FAA Complied with Environmental Justice Directives -- METHODOLOGY USED TO ASSESS KEY IMPACTS WAS REASONABLE, HOWEVER ADDITIONAL ANALYSES COULD HAVE BENEFITED DECISION MAKING AND THE PUBLIC'S UNDERSTANDING -- Methodology Used to Assess Operational and Noise Impacts Was Reasonable -- Process -- Contractors -- Modeling tools -- Data -- Metrics -- Our Review Identified Limitations, Which Had They been Addressed, Would Have Provided More Comprehensive Information for Decision Makers and the Public -- FAA did not Account for the Potential Effect of Delay Reductions and Operating Costs Savings on Passengers and Airline Traffic -- FAA Did Not Fully Account for Future Use of New Technology in the Noise Analysis -- FAA did not Assess the Effect of Noise Using Supplemental Noise Metrics -- FAA did not Fully Assess Uncertainty Associated with Estimated Impacts of the Alternatives -- FAA did not Analyze Economic Impacts when Evaluating the Alternatives -- Implementation costs -- Other economic impacts.

Uncertainty Analyses and Benefit-Cost Analyses Could Benefit Decision Makers and the Public -- Uncertainty Analysis would Provide Information on the Range of the Redesign's Impacts -- Benefit-Cost Analysis would Provide Information on Whether Estimated Benefits Outweigh Estimated Costs -- LACK OF DETAILED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT TIME FRAMES AND COSTS -- Lack of Detailed Implementation Plan Raises Questions on FAA Meeting Its 5-Year Completion Goal -- Final Project Configuration and Costs Are Unknown -- An Adaptive Management Strategy May Help FAA Successfully Evaluate the Implementation of the Redesign -- CONCLUSIONS -- RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EXECUTIVE ACTION -- APPENDIX I: OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY -- APPENDIX II: FAA'S LEGAL COMPLIANCE WITH KEY NEPA REQUIREMENTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE DIRECTIVES -- BACKGROUND -- Issues and Analysis -- 1. Was FAA's purpose and need statement reasonable? -- NEPA Requirements -- FAA Actions -- Analysis -- 2. Did FAA develop a reasonable range of alternatives to the proposed redesign and rigorously explore those alternatives in the EIS? -- NEPA Requirements -- FAA Actions -- Analysis -- 3. Did FAA Reasonably Decide not to Analyze Environmental Effects of the Potential Growth Resulting from its Airspace Redesign? -- NEPA Requirements -- FAA Actions -- Analysis -- 4. Did FAA Reasonably Involve the Public in the Environmental Review Process? -- NEPA Requirements -- FAA Actions -- Analysis -- 5. Did FAA Reasonably Consider Environmental Justice Issues In Its Environmental Review Process? -- Executive Order 12898 and Other Requirements -- FAA Actions -- Analysis -- APPENDIX III: OPERATIONAL COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVES -- APPENDIX IV: SUMMARY OF THE INTEGRATED AIRSPACE ALTERNATIVE WITH ICC -- APPENDIX V: COMMENTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION -- END NOTES.

AVIATION CONGESTION AND DELAY: SYSTEM-WIDE AND NEW YORK-AREA ISSUES -- SUMMARY -- AVIATION CONGESTION AND DELAY: SYSTEM-WIDE AND NEW YORK-AREA ISSUES -- AIR CARRIER DELAY TRENDS -- CAUSES OF AIR CARRIER DELAYS -- Airline Scheduling and Equipage -- Constraints on Airport and Air Traffic Control System Capacity -- Business Jets and Other High-Performance General Aviation Aircraft Operations -- SOME POSSIBLE NEAR-TERM REMEDIES FOR REDUCING AIR TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND MITIGATING DELAYS -- Airspace Redesign -- Opening of Military Airspace to Civilian Air Traffic -- Ground Delay and Airspace Flow Programs and Other Congestion Management Tools -- Technology and Procedural Changes -- Airline Upgauging -- DEMAND MANAGEMENT: SLOT CONTROLS AND CONGESTION PRICING -- Slot Controls -- Antitrust Immunity -- Congestion Pricing/Peak Period Pricing -- Aviation Infrastructure Pricing -- U.S. and Non-U.S. Experience With Congestion Pricing -- New York -- Boston -- London -- Issues -- Fee Setting -- Fee Setting and Use Issues -- Alternative Fee Mechanisms -- LEGAL ISSUES -- Federal Aviation Laws -- Airport's Proprietary Powers -- Previous Attempts to Impose "Congestion Pricing" Mechanisms -- New York's LaGuardia Airport -- Boston's Logan International Airport -- Potential Legal Issues Should FAA Impose Congestion Pricing -- END NOTES -- STATEMENT OF JAMES C. MAY BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE -- INTRODUCTION -- DOT CONGESTION MANAGEMENT PROPOSALS IGNORE REALITY -- DOT Congestion Management Proposals -- Weather, Not Air Carrier Schedules, Causes Delay -- New York Airspace Has Significant Non-Air Carrier Jet Traffic That Contributes to Congestion -- DOT AUCTON AND CONGESTION PRICING PROPOSALS ARE UNLAWFUL -- AUCTIONS AND CONGESTION PRICING WILL NOT REDUCE CONGESTION OR DELAYS, AND ARE FRAUGHT WITH PROBLEMS.

Auctions -- Congestion Pricing -- FAA HAS THE TOOLS: AIRSPACE REDESIGN, NEXTGEN AND THE ARC CAPACITY ENHANCING MEASURES -- NOW, MORE THAN EVER, DO NO HARM -- CONCLUSION -- END NOTES -- TESTIMONY OF MR. DOUGLAS E. LAVIN COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE'S SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES -- A SHORT HISTORY OF DOT'S EFFORTS TO ADDRESS CONGESTION IN NEW YORK -- DISCUSSION -- 1. Reduce Congestion -- 2. Allocation of Scarce Resources -- 3. Minimizing Disruption Associated with Implementing Suggestions -- CONCLUSION -- END NOTES -- TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM R. DECOTA BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION REGARDING CONGESTION MANAGEMENT IN THE NEW YORK AIRSPACE -- Auctions Are Not the Solution -- Gates and Terminal Facilities Are Not Interchangeable -- TESTIMONY OF EDWARD P. FABERMAN, BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION REGARDING "CONGESTION MANAGEMENT IN THE NEW YORK AIRSPACE" -- THIS STATEMENT DESCRIBED CONDITIONS IN 1968!! -- CONCLUSION -- END NOTES -- TESTIMONY OF CONGRESSMAN CHRISTOPHER SHAYS "CONGESTION MANAGEMENT IN THE NEW YORK AIRSPACE" SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE -- INADEQUATE NOISE MITIGATION STRATEGIES -- GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE (GAO) STUDY -- OTHER CONGESTION MITIGATION STRATEGIES -- Growing Opposition -- UNITED STATES SENATOR CHARLES E. SCHUMER, REMARKS AS PREPARED, HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION: CONGESTION MANAGEMENT IN THE NEW YORK AIRSPACE -- STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE D.J. GRIBBIN, BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION CONCERNING AVIATION CONGESTION MANAGEMENT.

INTRODUCTION -- Status of the Industry -- LaGuardia/JFK/Newark Background -- Are There Alternatives to Caps and Auctions? -- Expanded Capacity -- Administrative Allocation -- Market-Based Remedies -- Why Caps Must Be Combined with Auctions - and How It Will Result in Lower Fares -- What Have We Proposed? -- CONCLUSION -- END NOTES -- CHAPTER SOURCES -- INDEX.