Aug 22, 2007
It's not just me, but far more conservative types who contend that we can no longer tolerate thousands of daily flights by small corporate jets
When I referred in a recent post to the contribution made by corporate jets to the dangerously crowded conditions of our skies, several readers responded that these outlandish views were obviously a product of my notorious political attitudes. What an attack on freedom! What obvious envy of the super-rich!
And then, just days ago, officials at that big, courtly, southern carrier, Delta Airlines, of Atlanta, Georgia, issued a press release pointing with alarm to the same congestion of our air space by corporate jets -- saying:
And what is the solution? Let me suggest an analogy. If the automobiles of America were to become so numerous as to cause total gridlock, you can bet that our municipal authorities would place the same sort of restrictions on automobile traffic that several major European cities have imposed (in Florence, Italy, cars with odd-numbered license plates can drive into town only on odd-numbered days of the month, and so on) and that London has also adopted (a "congestion pricing" plan requires a heavy payment by persons driving their cars into the center of the city).
And yet that gridlock is fast approaching in the air -- and has already resulted in horrendous inconvenience to millions of air passengers. Though restrictions on corporate jets is a taboo topic that few of us want to discuss, and that bring down accusations of radical political beliefs, we will all eventually have to decide whether a rock star or the president of General Electric should be entitled to use precious air space and the attention of air traffic controllers, when they could just as easily have flown on a passenger jet.
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And then, just days ago, officials at that big, courtly, southern carrier, Delta Airlines, of Atlanta, Georgia, issued a press release pointing with alarm to the same congestion of our air space by corporate jets -- saying:
Within a decade, traffic delays will cost the economy $40 billion a year, and you, the customer, a great deal of wasted time. There will be 85% more jets in the sky in the next 15 years -- an increase driven largely by corporate jets, fractional jets, air-taxis and very light jets. To an air traffic controller, a jet with a celebrity or CEO takes as much effort as a commercial flight with 250 passengers.... which was precisely the point I made in my earlier post. Although the Delta release went on to claim that corporate jets were not paying their fair share of the cost of regulating air traffic, and did not argue (as I did) for a reduction in these small-plane flights, their explanation of the air traffic problem was directly based on the extraordinary increase in flights by corporate jets.
And what is the solution? Let me suggest an analogy. If the automobiles of America were to become so numerous as to cause total gridlock, you can bet that our municipal authorities would place the same sort of restrictions on automobile traffic that several major European cities have imposed (in Florence, Italy, cars with odd-numbered license plates can drive into town only on odd-numbered days of the month, and so on) and that London has also adopted (a "congestion pricing" plan requires a heavy payment by persons driving their cars into the center of the city).
And yet that gridlock is fast approaching in the air -- and has already resulted in horrendous inconvenience to millions of air passengers. Though restrictions on corporate jets is a taboo topic that few of us want to discuss, and that bring down accusations of radical political beliefs, we will all eventually have to decide whether a rock star or the president of General Electric should be entitled to use precious air space and the attention of air traffic controllers, when they could just as easily have flown on a passenger jet.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: airports
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
