The writing was on the wall for this one since a couple weeks ago when Delta, American Airlines and jetBlue applied for exemptions at JFK, followed by Continental applying for exemptions at Newark and LaGuardia. US Airways applied for an exemption for their operations at Philadelphia today.
The claim by US Air is actually pretty entertaining. Basically they’re saying that they pick up so much of the overflow from New York that it overwhelms their facilities. Just 11 flights diverting was enough to throw a spanner in the system.
…on March 13, 11 flights headed for New York-area airports diverted to Philadelphia because of bad weather. The extra demand caused a delay for departures from Philadelphia. This resulted in clogged taxiways and gates…"
These 11 diversions had such an impact that the airport informed the FAA that they were unable to accept any more diversions for fear of completely disrupting operations. For only 11 extra planes on the ground. Something doesn’t add up there.
The exemption applications have become a joke. I truly hope that the FAA denies all of them; doing otherwise would expose the new rule for the farce that it is and there’s no way the FAA is ready to admit that yet.
Related Posts
- Making a mockery of the 3-hour rule
- Here come the flight cancellations
- Department of Transportation institutes a 3-hour rule
- The cost of an overnight diversion
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