    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
    [November 15, 2007]
    [Pages 1473-1475]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With Secretary of Transportation Mary E.
    Peters and Federal Aviation Administration
    Acting Administrator Robert A. Sturgell
    November 15, 2007

        Thanksgiving is a week from today, and Christmas will quickly
    follow. This is really a time of joy for our families. Unfortunately,
    this is also a season of dread for too many Americans. Holiday travelers
    faced with the prospect of long-delayed and canceled flights and lost
    baggage and other problems have become all too often an occurrence. In
    other words, there's a lot of people that are worried about traveling
    because they've had unpleasant experiences when they've been flying
    around the country.
        And so this is a topic that I've just discussed with Secretary of
    Transportation Mary Peters and the Acting Administrator of the FAA,
    Bobby Sturgell. It's one thing to analyze the problem, but the American
    people expect us to come up with some solutions. And that's what we've
    been talking about. And one of the reasons we have a sense of urgency
    about this issue is that these problems that we've been discussing are
    clear to anybody who has been traveling. Airports are very crowded;
    travelers are being stranded; and flights are delayed, sometimes with a
    full load of passengers sitting on the runway for hours. These failures
    carry some real costs for the country, not just in the inconvenience
    they cause, but in the business they obstruct and family gatherings they
    cause people to miss.
        We can do better. We can have an aviation system that is improved.
    And that's what we're talking about. Secretary Peters and Acting
    Administrator Sturgell have been working with the airline industry on
    practical improvements. I want to announce a series of preliminary
    actions to help address the epidemic of aviation delays.
        First, the military will make available some of its airspace over
    the east coast for use by civilian airliners this Thanksgiving. These
    new routes will help relieve air congestion from Maine to Florida for
    nearly 5 full days surrounding the holiday.
        Second, the FAA is taking new measures to head off delays. Bobby
    Sturgell will impose a holiday moratorium on all nonessential projects
    so that the FAA can focus its personnel and equipment exclusively on
    keeping flights on time. The FAA is also

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    partnering with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to reduce
    bottlenecks in the New York metro area, which is the source of most
    chronic delays.
        Third, the Department of Transportation and the FAA are encouraging
    airlines to take their own measures to prevent delays. I'm pleased to
    get the report from Secretary Peters and Acting Administrator Sturgell.
    Airlines have agreed to make more staff available to expedite check-in
    and boarding, to set aside extra seats and even extra planes to help
    accommodate passengers affected by cancellations and delays. They agreed
    to bring in additional ticket kiosks and baggage handling gear as well
    as rolling staircases.
        Fourth, the Federal Government is using the Internet to provide
    real-time updates on flight delays. People in America have got to know
    there's a web site called fly.faa.gov; that's where the FAA transmits
    information on airport backups directly to passengers and their
    families. If you're interested in making sure that your plans can--
    aren't going to be disrupted, you can get on the web site of
    fly.faa.gov. As well, if you want to, you can sign up to receive delay
    notices on your mobile phones. In other words, part of making sure
    people are not inconvenienced is there to be good transmission of sound,
    real-time information.
        Fifth, we're proposing new regulations to help ensure that airline
    passengers are treated fairly. We're proposing to double the amount of
    compensation passengers receive when they're forced off overbooked
    flights. For example, a passenger forced to wait more than 2 hours for
    another flight would receive a minimum of $800 under our idea, instead
    of the current $400. We want people who are responsible for moving
    passengers to understand that there will be consequences for these
    delays, all aiming to get the system to work better.
        We're proposing a requirement that airlines collect better data on
    flight delays and provide that data to the Department of Transportation.
    We're evaluating a number of other recommendations for the airlines,
    including mandatory contingency plans to aid stranded passengers and
    penalties for chronically delayed flights.
        Finally, the Department of Transportation and the FAA are working on
    innovative ways to reduce congestion in the long run. While short-term
    improvements in flight operations and passenger treatment can help, they
    do not cure the underlying problem. In certain parts of our country, the
    demand for air service exceeds the available supply. As a result,
    airlines are scheduling more arrivals and departures than airports can
    possibly handle, and passengers are paying the price in backups and
    delays.
        The key to solving this problem is managing the demand for flights
    at overloaded airports, and there are a variety of tools to do this in a
    fair and efficient way. For example, fees could be higher at peak hours
    and at crowded airports, or takeoff and landing rights could be
    auctioned to the highest value flights. Market-based incentives like
    these would encourage airlines to spread out their flights more evenly
    during the day, to make better use of neighboring airports, and to move
    the maximum number of passengers as quickly and efficiently as possible.
        This concept is called congestion pricing. It has shown results in
    other areas of our economy; in other words, other parts of our economy
    use congestion pricing. Some States offer discounts to drivers who use
    E-ZPass, which reduces long waits at the toll plaza. Phone and
    electricity companies balance supply and demand by adjusting their rates
    during peak usage hours. Applying congestion pricing to the aviation
    industry has the potential to make today's system more predictable, more
    reliable, and more convenient for the travelers. Over the past 7 weeks,
    Federal officials have raised this idea with airlines and airport
    representatives in the New York area. And I've asked Secretary Peters
    and Acting Administrator

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    Sturgell to report back to me about those discussions next month.
        My administration will work swiftly to carry out the measures I've
    announced today. But to reform our aviation system in a way American
    consumers deserve, we need action from the United States Congress. In
    February, my administration sent Congress an FAA modernization bill that
    would improve the aviation system for all involved. The bill would
    upgrade aviation technology by adopting a safer and more automated air
    travel control system based on GPS technology, instead of the radar and
    radio-based systems designed during World War II.
        In other words, if we really want to solve this problem, it's time
    for Congress to modernize the FAA, and we've given them a blueprint to
    do so. The bill would employ market pricing to reduce congestion and
    ensure that airports manage their schedules efficiently. The bill would
    establish a new financing mechanism and governing structure to ensure
    that these reforms are carried out in wise and cost-effective ways.
        There are people in Congress who understand the need to act,
    starting with Senators Trent Lott and Senator
    Jay Rockefeller.
    They're leaders in this area of modernization of our--of the FAA. They
    understand that business as usual is not good enough for American
    travelers. And so do I, and so does my administration.
        I look forward to working with them to get a good bill passed as
    soon as possible. By working together, we can restore the confidence of
    America's consumers, improve the efficiency of America's airports, and
    bring order to America's skies.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:26 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House.