II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3165 

To develop a plan to share military and special use airspace along the 

eastern seaboard with commercial air traffic, to provide adequate resources for the FAA New York Integration Office, to establish an Aviation Traveler Task Force, and to design a notification system to alert 

passengers of potential service disruptions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 19, 2008 

Mr. SCHUMER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To develop a plan to share military and special use airspace 

along the eastern seaboard with commercial air traffic, 

to provide adequate resources for the FAA New York 

Integration Office, to establish an Aviation Traveler Task 

Force, and to design a notification system to alert passengers of potential service disruptions. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Summer Travel Delay 

5 Prevention Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) Flight delays and cancellations hit all time 

4 highs at major airports nationwide during the sum5 mer of 2007, when— 

6 (A) 20 percent more passengers were af7 fected by flight delays than were affected dur8 ing the previous summer; 

9 (B) nearly 621,000 flights were delayed, 

10 an increase of 15 percent compared with ap11 proximately 539,000 delayed flights in the sum12 mer of 2006; 

13 (C) such delays lasted an average of 60 

14 minutes, a 7 percent increase from the average 

15 length of flight delays in the previous summer; 

16 (D) flight cancellations increased to 

17 48,000, from 37,000 in the summer of 2006, 

18 affecting nearly 3,200,000 passengers; and 

19 (E) on board tarmac delays lasting at least 

20 1 hour increased by 25 percent compared with 

21 the summer of 2006, affecting over 2,000,000 

22 passengers. 

23 (2) The Inspector General of the Department of 

24 Transportation— 

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1 (A) identified the New York area as 1 of 

2 3 saturation points across the country that im3 pacted delays nationwide; 

4 (B) reported that the biggest airspace bot5 tlenecks during the summer of 2007 were at the 

6 3 major New York area airports and the surrounding airspace, accounting for more than 1 7 ⁄3

8 of the flight delays nationwide; and 

9 (C) after analyzing the likelihood of having 

10 more or less delays at 5 of the busiest airports 

11 based on current traffic and existing systems, 

12 determined that the significant increase in the 

13 peak travel schedule at LaGuardia Airport in 

14 the summer 2008 has the potential to worsen 

15 delay conditions. 

16 (3) The 3 airports in the New York area, Ken17 nedy Airport (JFK), LaGuardia Airport, and New18 ark Liberty Airport— 

19 (A) are the 3 worst airports across the 

20 country in terms of on-time arrivals, with only 

21 59 percent of flights arriving on time at JFK 

22 and LaGuardia; 

23 (B) are anticipated to experience massive 

24 delays in the summer of 2008; and 

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1 (C) have a ripple effect on the national air2 space system. 

3 (4) Between October 2006 and July 2007 at 

4 JFK, average daily operations increased by 23 per5 cent and arrival delays of more than 1 hour in6 creased by 114 percent, to more than 2,300. 

7 (5) The Federal Aviation Administration esti8 mates that the number of passengers on commercial 

9 aircraft will increase by 36 percent between 2007 

10 and 2015, to a total of 1,000,000,000 passenger 

11 trips. 

12 (6) Next generation air traffic control tech13 nology has the ability to significantly improve con14 gestion problems, but the Federal Aviation Adminis15 tration has repeatedly delayed its implementation, 

16 currently estimated to take place in 2025, 11 years 

17 later than originally predicted. 

18 (7) In addition to technology improvements, 

19 proven tools are available to reduce airspace conges20 tion and address the massive delays. 

21 (8) During the Thanksgiving holidays in 2007, 

22 military airspace off the East Coast was opened for 

23 commercial use, significantly reducing holiday delays 

24 and congestion by creating an additional lane for 

25 traffic. 

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1 (9) Empowering a director to oversee and co2 ordinate operations in congested airspace has effec3 tively reduced delays in South Florida, where some 

4 air carriers improved arrival performance by 44 per5 cent and reduced delays lasting more than 90 min6 utes by 69 percent. 

7 SEC. 3. PLAN FOR SHARING MILITARY AND SPECIAL USE 

8 AIRSPACE. 

9 The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis10 tration, in consultation with the Secretary of Transpor11 tation and the Secretary of Defense, shall develop— 

12 (1) a plan to open up special use airspace for 

13 additional lanes of air traffic at specific choke points 

14 during the summer of 2008; and 

15 (2) a permanent plan to share the military air16 space off the eastern coast of the United States, 

17 which— 

18 (A) creates a corridor for commercial 

19 flights seeking to avoid inclement weather or 

20 excessive air traffic; and 

21 (B) provides for immediate reclamation of 

22 such airspace by the Department of Defense in 

23 the event of a national emergency. 

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1 SEC. 4. NEW YORK INTEGRATION OFFICE. 

2 (a) BUDGET AUTHORITY.—The Director of the New 

3 York Integration Office of the Federal Aviation Adminis4 tration is authorized to transfer any amounts appropriated 

5 for the operations of such office to any function that the 

6 Director determines to be necessary to carry out any flight 

7 delay reduction project involving the airspace in the New 

8 York-New Jersey region. 

9 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated to the Federal Aviation 

11 Administration such sums as may be necessary to carry 

12 out the responsibilities of the New York Integration Of13 fice, including hiring necessary support staff. 

14 SEC. 5. AVIATION TRAVELER TASK FORCE. 

15 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find16 ings: 

17 (1) While aircraft safety should be a top pri18 ority for the Federal Aviation Administration and 

19 air carriers, compliance with Federal safety regula20 tions should not come at the expense of passenger 

21 convenience. 

22 (2) One of the chief complaints of customers 

23 left stranded during April 2008 by massive cancella24 tions was the lack of notification about the status of 

25 their flights. 

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1 (3) Commercial air flight cancellations were an2 nounced with little advance notice, causing many 

3 travelers to discover that their flight was cancelled 

4 after they arrived at the airport. 

5 (4) Air carriers have also reduced the number 

6 of flights on their schedules, which has frustrated 

7 consumers’ attempts to find replacement flights on 

8 other air carriers. 

9 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 

10 Federal Aviation Administration shall establish an Avia11 tion Traveler Task Force, comprised of Federal Aviation 

12 Administration employees and representatives of the com13 mercial aviation industry. 

14 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The Aviation Traveler Task Force 

15 shall— 

16 (1) clarify interpretations of safety directives 

17 issued by the Federal Aviation Administration with 

18 which air carriers will soon need to comply; 

19 (2) develop contingency plans in the event that 

20 additional aircraft— 

21 (A) are found to be out of compliance with 

22 such safety directives; and 

23 (B) need to be grounded; 

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1 (3) generate ideas for the best way to notify 

2 passengers on a massive scale that their flights have 

3 been cancelled; and 

4 (4) design a notification system to alert pas5 sengers of potential service disruptions. 

6 (d) INSPECTION PLANS.—The Administrator of the 

7 Federal Aviation Administration shall ensure that any 

8 standardized plan to perform inspections of commercial 

9 aircraft includes a plan to reduce groundings and other 

10 consequences resulting from such inspections. 

Æ 

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