Maximizing Efficiency at Our Airports

Our Airports have excess capacity, which is not being used due to the fact that many airliners sit during the nighttime and fly during the day. This is only one problem we have that can be solved through better optimization. You can go to any large airport in this country and see how few aircraft are taking off in the middle of the night.

This is a problem at Airports, where aircraft are usually parked in the middle of the night and fewer and fewer red eye flights these days. Most of this is due to competition of the low fair airlines. It would be good if we could figure out a way to use these resources better.

There is tremendous growth at our airports for instance Dallas, Las Vegas, Atlanta, San Francisco, LAX, etc. And many other smaller airports Akron/Canton, Long Beach, Flint Michigan, etc. are seeing incredible growth. The FAA is in need of less regulation from other bureaucracies to do its job as well as some privatization. The EPA routinely withholds monies to airports until they comply with NPDES permits with EPA and will withhold funds or add in those costs in their funding as mandates. The problem is that first you need to expand the airport and thus increase revenues then you can solve these other issues. Having been around airports all my life and discussing things with small, medium and large Airport Managers and Executives their issues are not being served and their hands are tied behind their backs with mandates from the DOT, Congress, EPA, Homeland Security, it is amazing they are still able to even function.

Airports are an integral part of our transportation system. Many Airports have become great transportation hubs as needed by the patrons who frequent them. Chicago, Newark, LaGuardia, Reagan, San Francisco, Hawaii, PHX, and many others have figured out how to move people in and out quickly and connecting them to the desired ground transportation. Likewise those which are in close proximity to bus-train stations hubs or have incorporated them into the overall plan seem to really do well for the traveling public. Trams, which go from the airport to downtown or to the bus or train terminals and parking structures for rent-a-cars, really serve there nearby cities well. This brings in business to the cities and completes the transportation loop. Economic Development Associations, which work closely with their airports will often are able to encompass the needs of the people, businesses and government into a seamless.

We must keep the bureaucracy away from the entrepreneurial spirit and those who work in the Aviation and Transportation Industry so they can streamline the system and find efficiencies in the flow of air travel. Think about it.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs