Flying High over Crowded Skies

Undeniably, air-traffic has worsened threefold over the last couple of years in the United States.

Yes, our skies are reaching their saturation point and the relative number of aircraft worked by our international airports (O’Hare International Airport, New York JFK International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Miami International Airport, et al) is only encountering problems that they create for themselves. The real problem lies in airline scheduling. With rising concerns as to the safety of our air traffic system erupting all over the country, surveys have shown that the air traffic control system is indeed falling far behind the growth in air traffic.

Last year, a quarter of the domestic flights failed to arrive or leave on time – terming it as the second worst airline delay and the second poorest performance in the industry ever! What’s more, industry analysts have even said that this problem is likely to get magnified in the next couple of years! Last year, nearly 26 percent of the commercial flights in the United States either arrived late, were delayed or were cancelled for various reasons, namely (1) rising passenger demand, and (2) the industry preference for smaller airplanes, which have in turn intensified the congestion on the runways and in the skies.

However, one must read into the fact that all of these delays are either caused due to air-traffic control problems or because of congestion problems in the nationwide aviation system. Major airports like O’Hare International Airport, New York JFK International Airport, Las Angeles International Airport, and Miami International Airport have all been caught in the midst of this growing problem.

With the airways getting to be more and more crowded, inevitably, the errors have also become more and more significant. In their defence, air traffic controllers in the country have been complaining about serious staffing shortages, which compel the controllers to work longer hours.

Taking all of these problems into account, analysts have said that there is no scope for improvement in the near future since airlines still continue to replace the larger aircraft with smaller planes. Although this practice is meant to maximize profits by flying with a reduced number of empty seats, it however also means that there will be more delays, more congestion and more flights.

In an effort to correct these problems, congested airports have been making plans of charging landing fees that are based on the traffic volume and the time the flight lands so as to encourage carriers to spread their operations evenly throughout the day. However, in spite of implementing this new policy, there is no quick fix for such a major problem.

As dispiriting as the news may seem, there are however measures being taken to reduce these problems and rumours of a new $15 billion satellite-based air-traffic control system has been doing the rounds for quite some time now. Although this device will take nearly 20 years to improve operations, at least it is a solution to our problems.

But are we willing to wait that long?

Taking all of these problems into consideration, one tends to wonder if chartering flights could be the final solution. Chartering flights provides the efficiency, flexibility and privacy to make sure your travelling experience is an enjoyable one. What’s more, renting out an aircraft gets rid off all those annoying flight delays and it has been observed that in the past few years the demand for charter flights has doubled and continues to grow.

Charter companies like Flight Management International Inc. have emerged as front-runners in the aviation industry what with their private air transport solutions that include on-demand charter services, turnkey aircraft management, and charter aircraft management. Flight Management International creates solutions to meet every kind of private air travel requirement.

Furthermore, this year has witnessed the arrival of FMGM that was signed on with Aviation Charters (Flight Management International’s first carrier) acting as its agent. Maybe we do have the final solution to our air travel problems after all.

posted by marketkafka @ 5:17 AM,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home