Hell on a Tarmac

EVERY frequent flier has his airline horror stories. Delays, missed connections, family members stranded on holidays, lost vacation time. Virtually all observers-from these frustrated passengers to policy wonks-agree that the industry needs to deal with airport congestion, over both the short and the long term.

But unfortunately, when it comes to what to do and how to do it, there are a lot of conflicting and powerful interests in play-the air-traffic controllers’ union, the airlines, leisure- and corporate-aviation advocates, the Federal Aviation Administration. As a result, the federal government keeps kicking the can. Recently, Congress failed to reauthorize and update the FAA, instead extending its old budget for a few more months. It has done this several times in the last year.

About the Author

Robert VerBruggen

Robert VerBruggen is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

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EVERY frequent flier has his airline horror stories. Delays, missed connections, family members stranded on holidays, lost vacation time. Virtually all observers-from these frustrated passengers to policy wonks-agree that the industry needs to deal with airport congestion, over both the short and the long term.

But unfortunately, when it comes to what to do and how to do it, there are a lot of conflicting and powerful interests in play-the air-traffic controllers’ union, the airlines, leisure- and corporate-aviation advocates, the Federal Aviation Administration. As a result, the federal government keeps kicking the can. Recently, Congress failed to reauthorize and update the FAA, instead extending its old budget for a few more months. It has done this several times in the last year.