FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ACI-NA Statement on DOT SNPRM
to Create Slot Auctions
at LaGuardia
WASHINGTON (April 18, 2008) – "Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) appreciates the Department of
Transportation’s continuing efforts to alleviate congestion and passenger
delays. ACI-NA maintains that capacity expansion, both at the airport and in
the national airspace system, is the most effective means of reducing
congestion. However, in those instances where such measures are infeasible or
not available in the short-term, airport proprietors are in the best position
to implement market-based, congestion management programs at their facilities to
reduce delays.
ACI-NA commends the Department’s recent proposal to amend the 1996 Policy Regarding Airport Rates and Charges to recognize airport proprietors’ role in managing congestion at their airports.
For this same reason, however, ACI-NA does not support, in its current form, the Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM), to create slot auctions at LaGuardia airport. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has broad authority to regulate the airspace of the United States; however this proposed rule does not recognize the inextricable link between the use of the airport infrastructure and airspace. The FAA has the right to limit the number of operations allowed at a constrained airport. However, it is the airport proprietor’s preeminent right to manage the facilities it owns and operates within those restrictions and according to applicable law."
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