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PHL ranks last in nation for on-time flights (AP article)

 
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Old May 8, 2006, 3:22 am
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PHL ranks last in nation for on-time flights (AP article)

Philly airport ranks last among majors in nation for on-time flights
Monday, May 08, 2006

The Associated Press


PHILADELPHIA -- Many of the 31.5 million travelers who came through Philadelphia International Airport last year stayed a little longer than they might have wished.

The airport has the worst on-time performance of all major airports in the United States, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported yesterday. Analysts blame the airport's layout and location as well as the connecting hub system of US Airways, the dominant carrier with 450 flights a day.

Departing flights took off on time 72 percent of the time, for last place among the nation's 33 largest airports, according to U.S. Department of Transportation statistics.

Arrivals also came in on time 72 percent of the time, for a 29th-place ranking. Flights are considered on time if they depart from or arrive at a gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule.

By comparison, flights depart on time about 89 percent of the time at airports with the best records, such as Salt Lake City.

"Things are so bad in Philadelphia that it almost caused Southwest Airlines not to come here," said Kevin P. Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, a Radnor-based organization for corporate travel managers.

"There's no reliability," Mitchell said. "It affects meeting and convention planners who know that Philadelphia is not an optimal situation. There are a lot of consequences."

Flights on US Airways departed on time 70 percent of the time.

The Inquirer reported that monthly data from January 2003 through December 2005 show that Philadelphia ranked last in on-time departure 11 times, more than any other airport. Chicago O'Hare International Airport, which is notorious for its congestion, ranked last eight times.

Nearly three-fourths of the delays are blamed on heavy air traffic in the Northeast corridor and late-arriving aircraft.

Inclement weather -- from summer thunderstorms to winter snowfalls -- contribute to the problem.

So too does the airport's design, with runways jammed together on 2,100 acres between a river and a highway. A master plan calls for reconfiguring the runways to speed up landings and takeoffs, but the plan could take a decade and as much as $3 billion to implement.

"With Philadelphia, a lot of it is structural," said Richard Golaszewski, executive vice president of GRA Inc., an aviation consulting firm in Jenkintown.

"Unless you do something with the runway system, [if] you try to move the number of people you do here, you're going to have delays," he said.

With the arrival of Southwest and other low-cost carriers in 2004, the number of daily arrivals and departures has grown from just over 1,200 in 2003 to nearly 1,500.

The airport was the ninth-busiest in the world last year, with passenger counts up from 24.7 million in 2003 to 31.5 million last year.

US Airways officials say they are aware of the problem and hope to fix it. Philadelphia is the airline's main international gateway and its second-largest connecting hub.
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Old May 8, 2006, 3:55 am
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Quite a revelation. Guess nobody on these boards ever noticed that before.
Good thing we have the media to catch that sort of stuff.
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Old May 8, 2006, 11:01 am
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Originally Posted by deelmakur
Quite a revelation. Guess nobody on these boards ever noticed that before.
Good thing we have the media to catch that sort of stuff.

LOL. not to worry, as they only need 3 billion and 10 years to fix the problem (not including lawsuits, planning approvals and delays) so I expect smooth operations by about 2020 when I am "ultra platimnum 1K" on the newly merged USAirways-Southwest carrier to be called 'South Philly Airways'
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Old May 8, 2006, 12:29 pm
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I dont know what everyone is complaining about! I only spent 55minutes on the runway today. We were #11, and when we took off I counted 23 in line. Oh wait an airport!!!
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Old May 9, 2006, 7:57 am
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In terms of the various previous discussions re PHL, I can only say....


QED
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Old May 9, 2006, 9:58 am
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There was a big article in the Phila Inquirer on the same topic. Gist was the same with a little more detail. All I can say is forget about the people in Delaware County and in S. Jersey that are complaining about the noise. Screw the wetlands too. We should all start an interest group -- Simultaneous Takeoffs and Landings Now. Perhaps someone can come up with a better name.
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Old May 9, 2006, 10:06 am
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Originally Posted by Wave1
The airport was the ninth-busiest in the world last year, with passenger counts up from 24.7 million in 2003 to 31.5 million last year.
PHL is not the ninth-busiest, it is LAS. SIN, with over 32k passengers, is at 25th place.

It goes like this : ATL > ORD > LHR > HND > LAX > DFW > CDG > FRA > LAS
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Old May 9, 2006, 8:14 pm
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Wow!

Wow! This used to be my home airport and I still go there 2-4 times per year and every flight that I can remember was delayed! Probably because of those great US baggage handlers. lol
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Old May 9, 2006, 8:25 pm
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Airport Ranking

2005 Final numbers - passengers
1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Atlanta, Georgia, United States ATL/KATL 88,894,947 1 +2.7%
2. O'Hare International Airport Chicago, Illinois, United States ORD/KORD 76,766,776 2 +1.6%
3. London Heathrow Airport London, England, United Kingdom LHR/EGLL 67,683,341 3 +0.8%
4. Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) Tokyo, Kanto, Japan HND/RJTT 63,282,219 4 +1.6%
5. Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles, California, United States LAX/KLAX 61,485,269 5 +1.3%
6. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, United States DFW/KDFW 59,064,360 6 -0.6%
7. Charles De Gaulle International Airport Paris, Île-de-France, France CDG/LFPG 53,756,200 7 +4.9%
8. Frankfurt International Airport Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany FRA/EDDF 52,219,412 8 +2.2%
9. McCarran International Airport Las Vegas, Nevada, United States LAS/KLAS 44,280,190 11 (+2) +6.8%
10. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Haarlemmermeer, North Holland, The Netherlands AMS/EHAM 44,163,098 9 (-1) +3.8%
11. Denver International Airport Denver, Colorado, United States DEN/KDEN 43,387,335 10 (-1) +2.2%
12. Barajas International Airport Madrid, Spain MAD/LEMD 41,939,904 13 (+1) +8.4%
13. Sky Harbor International Airport Phoenix, Arizona, United States PHX/KPHX 41,204,071 12 (-1) +4.3%
14. Beijing Capital International Airport Beijing, People's Republic of China PEK/ZBAA 40,989,651 20 (+6) +17.5%
15. John F. Kennedy International Airport New York City, New York, United States JFK/KJFK 40,584,001 15 +8.2%
16. Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong, People's Republic of China HKG/VHHH 40,282,000 17 (+1) +9.7%
17. Houston Intercontinental Airport Houston, Texas, United States IAH/KIAH 39,713,920 18 (+1) +8.8%
18. Bangkok International Airport Bangkok, Thailand BKK/VTBD 38,985,043 14 (-4) +2.7%
19. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States MSP/KMSP 37,563,664 16 (-3) +2.3%
20. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport Detroit, Michigan, United States DTW/KDTW 36,374,906 19 (-1) +3.4%
21. Orlando McCoy International Airport Orlando, Florida, USA MCO/KMCO 33,907,396 24 (+3) +8.4%
22. San Francisco International Airport San Francisco, California, United States SFO/KSFO 33,580,662 21 (-1) +2.6%
23 Newark Liberty International Airport Newark, New Jersey, United States EWR/KEWR 33,033,569 22 (-1) +3.6%
24. London Gatwick Airport London, England, United Kingdom LGW/EGKK 32,784,177 23 (-1) +4.2%
25. Singapore Changi Airport Singapore SIN/WSSS 32,430,856 26 (+1) +6.8%
26. Tokyo Narita International Airport Tokyo, Kanto, Japan NRT/RJAA 31,525,275 25 (-1) +1.5%
27. Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States PHL/KPHL 31,502,855 30 (+3) +10.5%
28. Miami International Airport Miami, Florida, Unites States MIA/KMIA 31,008,453 27 (-1) +2.8%
29. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Seattle, Washington, United States SEA/KSEA 30,289,009 N/A -
30. Toronto Pearson International Airport Toronto, Ontario, Canada YYZ/CYYZ 29,914,925 29
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Old May 9, 2006, 10:16 pm
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Originally Posted by Fiumicino
PHL is not the ninth-busiest, it is LAS. SIN, with over 32k passengers, is at 25th place.

It goes like this : ATL > ORD > LHR > HND > LAX > DFW > CDG > FRA > LAS
And, Toronto is the most expensive airport in the world for airlines.
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Old May 10, 2006, 8:47 am
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My parents just called me from the tarmac in PHL: They boarded over an hour ago, and they're still 20th in line for takeoff. My mother ended the call by saying "We're never flying through PHL again." Unfortunately for them, they don't have too many other options on US from AVP.
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