JFK Backup, Nationwide Gridlock

Because a third of all U.S. flights use those airports or fly through New York airspace on any given day, the region's delays spread quickly across the country, executives and regulators said.

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"So goes New York, so goes the air traffic system across the United States," said Dave Barger, chief executive of JetBlue Airways, which operates a hefty chunk of JFK's flights. Barger supports the idea of flight caps at JFK during peak times.

Analysts said it's not just the raw number of flights but how airlines schedule them on a particular day.

Just like Washington with its crammed roadways, JFK and other airports also have rush hours. In the evening, carriers at JFK want to fly lots of big jets overseas, especially to Europe, so they can land in time for morning meetings. They also schedule flights in the morning and afternoon that appeal to business travelers hoping to get in and out of town quickly.

Most of JFK's problems occur in the evening, when the rush hour for business travel collides with the bank of international flights, said Darryl Jenkins, an aviation consultant who closely tracks airline scheduling practices.

"By afternoon, JFK is just overscheduled," Jenkins said. "There is just no way to make those schedules happen."

Controllers said that operations are complicated by the fact that an unusual range of aircraft types use JFK's runways, a mix of small regional jets, medium-size planes and wide-body jets. Smaller planes need more space to take off safely behind larger jets. Properly sequencing those flights during busy periods can be a challenge, especially when bad weather strikes, controllers said.

The scheduling practices at JFK have led to a surge in the number of flights that are chronically late across the country, regulators said.

Through August, the airlines recorded 319 flights that were delayed at least 70 percent of the time in any given month, federal data show. That is up from 245 in all of last year.

More than two-thirds of those chronically delayed flights this year touched New York airspace, regulators said.

The Transportation Department is investigating airlines and could impose fines for operating such flights.

Peters and other regulators said they hoped to get the airlines to voluntarily agree to caps at JFK, which the FAA has proposed to set at 80 or 81 departures and arrivals per hour. During peak hours, airlines often surpass those benchmarks, regulators said.

Regulators are also considering congestion pricing, fees that escalate during peak periods in the hopes of curtailing flights during JFK's rush hour, Peters said.

Airline executives said congestion pricing and caps will curtail flights to towns and cities served by smaller planes. They also warned that they might not be able to support their extensive networks if they must cut back on schedules.

Glen W. Hauenstein, a Delta Air Lines executive vice president, said the government should do more to boost capacity at JFK and not restrict flights. He said the FAA has taken too long to implement a redesign of New York airspace -- it has begun putting the new layout into place -- and should look at all traffic, including flights of private jets, at other airports in the area.

He said Delta, which has substantially beefed up flights at JFK in recent years, and other carriers are scheduling flights at certain times because they want to support passenger demand.

"It's irresponsible for the government to say this is an airline issue," he said. "If JFK is restricted to 80 flights, who is going to pay? The customers."