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Long Tarmac Delays Still Common

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 6, 2007

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Planes packed with passengers still spend long hours waiting on airport tarmacs.

In January alone, nearly 600 aircraft experienced delays of at least two hours, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

That doesn't even include the nine JetBlue flights that idled for 6-10 hours on the JFK tarmac when a Valentine's Day ice storm struck New York.

The worst offender in January, according to the report, was ExpressJet, a Houston-based carrier that also flew under the name of Continental Express. It had 98 long delays, many as the result of a mid-January ice storm.

The same storm snarled American, the largest airline, and its partner American Eagle. Both ranked second to ExpressJet for January delays.

Weather problems at American hubs in Dallas and Chicago were major culprits, the airline said.

Although 588 flights sat for at least two hours, the rate was only 9.5 per 10,000 domestic flights -- slightly lower than the number of delays during the same period of 2006.

The actual number of long delays is almost certainly higher since flights that are cancelled aren't counted in the "delay" report. They are counted in the minds of the passengers who experienced them, however.

In addition to wild winter weather, high volume and crowded runways are also responsible for lengthy tarmac waits. Staff cuts and antiquated equipment in the air traffic controller network are also major contributors.

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