Think Tank Finds Solution To Flight Delays: New Fees On Passengers

October 8, 2009 at 4:33 PM | by Omri | Comments (0)

Researchers over at the top-ranked Brookings Institution have taken a look at the airline industry and at airport congestion, and they'd like you to know that they're very concerned. They note that airline delays have increased dramatically over the last decade, until now more than one in ten planes is over two hours late. Very true and very concerning, and thank you for bringing that to our attention, though it's hardly news.

Their solution, which is to raise fees in order to discourage travelers from flying during peak congestion times, seems to us much less smart:

The researchers said much of the problem is due to heavy concentrations of short trips between big cities, but they also cited an "ill-equipped" air traffic control system and other factors. They suggested increasing high-speed rail service to offer travelers alternatives to short flights. They also recommended letting busy airports charge fees on rush-hour flights to make airlines spread trips more evenly through the day.

Just so everyone's following along: the idea here is that the economy might improve soon—or, as of yesterday, it might very well not—and that we should raise fees now to prevent business travelers from conducting business during the business day. Which, if you think about it, kind of defeats the purpose.

The only way to make large airlines efficient is to let them use their hub-and-spoke system. Commuters are brought into a central airport throughout the early and mid-morning and then distributed to their destinations in the late morning and afternoon. This report basically concludes that the only way to make airlines efficient is to ditch the hub-and-spoke system, which, umm, is the only way to make airlines efficient.

The study isn't all bad ideas though. Researchers also recommended the creation of a government commission. Because that's what we do when we want to make something more efficient: we get a bunch of industry hacks and sit them down with a bunch of bureaucratic sloths and then we have them brainstorm. What could go wrong?

It's not that this report is partisan or ideological or anything like that. There are free market recommendations like privatizing airports right next to calls for government intervention. It's just that at some point, people will have to stop reaching for new fees every time they want to tinker with something airline-based. This is getting absurd.

[Photo: xeni / Flickr]

Related Stories:
· Brookings researchers warn of more flight delays [AP]
· Airline Delays Coverage [Jaunted]
· Airports Coverage [Jaunted]

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