Originally Posted by
chipmaster
So my question, why given the knowledge of the runway paving and general restrictions they don't have everything adjusted. You'd think the paving and landing impact and risk would then require a reduction even in weekend capacity, or is this just executives thinking with pocket book versus common sense?
Anything but a major reduction in schedule would probably just make things worse. The FAA ground delay program essentially hands out arrival slots based on scheduled flights. If United were to proactively reduce the number of scheduled flights, they'd just lose access to those slots, which reduces the flexibility they have to swap them amongst flights to minimize disruption. A major reduction in scheduled flights could theoretically obviate the need for the FAA GDP, but the magnitude of the reduction necessary to make a dent is probably too significant to be practical.