# NEW YORK -- New York John F. Kennedy International (JFK)

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**Benchmark Results**

-   The capacity benchmark for New York John F. Kennedy International
    Airport today is 75‑87 flights per hour (arrivals and departures) in
    Optimum weather. The benchmark remains the same in Marginal
    conditions.

-   The benchmark rate decreases slightly to 64‑67 flights per hour in
    IFR conditions, for the most commonly used runway configuration in
    these conditions. Throughput may be less when ceiling and visibility
    are low, or when other runway configurations are in use due to wind
    direction or for noise abatement.

-   Note that these benchmarks do not represent balanced operations.
    Rather, there are more departures than arrivals in each scenario.
    Greater total throughput may be possible during arrival or departure
    peaks.

-   If the facility reported rates are significantly unbalanced (i.e.,
    unequal numbers of arrivals and departures), the benchmark rates
    will be unbalanced as well. The facility reported rates reflect
    current operations at the airport during a busy hour, but such
    unbalanced rates cannot be sustained for extended periods.

-   The most frequently used configuration at JFK in all weather
    conditions involves operations on Runways 31R and 31L. During
    periods of arrival demand, both runways are used for arrivals but
    only Runway 31L is used for departures. Conversely, during periods
    of departure demand, both runways are used for departures but
    arrivals mainly use Runway 31R. In IFR conditions, most departures
    will use Runway 31L.

-   JFK consistently uses instrument approaches and radar separation
    between arrivals, possibly due to the high proportion of
    international airlines in the traffic mix. Consequently, CEFR (which
    would allow suitably equipped aircraft to maintain visual
    separations in Marginal conditions) is not expected to have a
    significant effect on the benchmark rates at JFK.

-   The following charts compare actual hourly traffic with the
    calculated capacity curves for JFK. A few points lie outside the
    capacity curves, especially in IFR. There are many possible reasons
    why this may occur without affecting operational safety. A different
    runway configuration, with two departure runways, may have been in
    use rather than the one modeled. Efficient aircraft sequencing or
    above-average pilot and controller performance can contribute to
    higher throughputs. Also, actual weather conditions during the hour
    may have been better than the hourly readings in the database,
    allowing the use of different ATC procedures.

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    **NOTE:** Data on frequency of occurrence of weather and runway
    configuration usage is based on FAA ASPM data for January 2000 to
    July 2002 (excluding 11-14 September 2001), 7 AM to 10 PM local
    time.

    **Planned Improvements** at JFK are not expected to affect the
    benchmark rates. These improvements include:

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-   Airspace redesign and RNAV arrival/departure routes, which would
    improve operational efficiency but not affect the benchmark
    configuration.

-   PRM, which would allow simultaneous instrument approaches to Runways
    22R and 22L (which is not the benchmark configuration).

-   CEFR, for reduced in-trail separations between arrivals in Marginal
    conditions. However, JFK uses instrument approaches and radar
    separations today even in Optimum conditions, and so is unlikely to
    take advantage of CEFR capabilities.

Additional information on these improvements may be found in the
Introduction and Overview of this report, under "Assumptions."

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Hourly traffic data was obtained from the FAA ASPM database for January
2000 to July 2002 (excluding 11-14 September 2001), 7 AM to 10 PM local
time. Facility reported rates were reviewed by ATC personnel at JFK.