There’s nothing more frustrating than a flight delay when you’re on vacation. Now, there’s a plan to ease delays at Reagan National Airport this summer.
The FAA announced a plan to ease delays this summer, not only at Reagan but also at New York City-area airports. Between mid-May and mid-September, the agency is easing regulations concerning the number of slots at airports.
Reagan is a Level 3 airport, meaning it has constrained capacity due to available infrastructure. Combined with a shortage of air traffic controllers and other issues meant many frustrating delays last summer, which is peak travel time.
Slots give an airline the right for an aircraft to take off and land at a specific airport at a designated time.
According to CNBC, airlines, such as United and Delta, are applauding the move.
Last summer, many airlines reduced the number of flights they offered to avoid big delays.
The FAA acknowledges that temporary safety mitigations put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic impacted controller training. However, dedicated training initiatives have been successful in reducing most of the training backlog.