The study, which covers the 30 most congested airports plus Memphis, a cargo hub, also shows projected demand growth to 2010 at these airports will increase from 4 percent at Washington National Airport to 42 percent at Orlando. Fewer than half of those airports plan to build more runways. An example of over-utilization of runways would be Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport. About 50 jets can take off and land there every 15 minutes. But the airlines tried to get nearly 60 flights in during some 15-minute spans.
Airlines try to accommodate passengers' schedule preferences, which creates heavy runway demand.
Experts say that privatization of the air traffic control system would lead to swift modernization of equipment, which could do much to reduce delays. In addition, many major airports tare heavily dominated by a single carrier, resulting in higher prices and poorer service, Consumer's Research has reported. Passenger complaints about delays at the nation's busiest airports have more than doubled between 1998 and 2000. Reported in Consumers' Research , 11-2000. The John Locke Foundation welcomes comments and ideas for improvement.