DOT Study: U.S. Airports Must to Expand to Meet Demand

A new FAA study which looked at the adequacy of U.S. airports to meet future passenger demand found that 14 airports and eight metropolitan areas will require new capacity to accommodate the anticipated growth over the next 18 years.

U. S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters, commenting on the report's conclusions, said many of the nation's busiest airports and metropolitan areas - such as Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale - will not only require additional capacity at their present airports, but may also need to build new ones.

Furthermore, the report, which was prepared by the MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development, concluded places like the San Francisco Bay area, New York, Boston and Los Angeles, will have to find better ways to use existing, underused air fields, because existing airports are hemmed in by urban development.

Secretary Peters noted in the last 15 years, her Department has spent nearly $6 billion to help open 27 new runways at the nation's largest airports, helped convert five former military airfields to commercial service airports, and currently committed an additional $2 billion for three runways, two airfield reconfigurations, a runway extension, and a major taxiway.

The Department is also working to ease airport congestion by using new technology and is also seeking additional, market-based tools to fight congestion in the aviation reauthorization bill now before Congress, Ms. Peters said.  As for technology, the report recognizes the important affects of modernization initiatives, such as NextGen, which could ameliorate some future airport capacity problems, if realized.

The study is available at by clicking here.  05-21-2007.

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