HALLETT: AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEM “CHOKING ON ITS OWN SUCCESS”

HALLETT: AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEM “CHOKING ON ITS OWN SUCCESS”

HALLETT: AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEM “CHOKING ON ITS OWN SUCCESS”

   Carol Hallett, chief executive officer of the Air Transport Association, and former U.S. Customs Commissioner, called for freight forwarders and customs brokers to push for airport and air traffic control systems improvements in the United States.
   The airline industry is “choking on its own success” Hallett said Monday at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America conference in San Francisco. If nothing is done, “we're looking at a complete system meltdown in the near future.”
   Hallett said that more often, small community interest groups become the loudest and most listened to opponents of air transport infrastructure development. But these groups don't represent the broader needs of industry and the traveling public for an efficient air transport system.
   The industry needs to speak with a louder voice for air transport improvements, through 'grassroots coalitions,' Hallett said. 'Brokers and forwarders are part of the solution, not the problem.'
   The problems with the U.S. air transport system will continue to get worse. Airlines plan to spend as much as $85 billion to modernize equipment in the next five years and add about 2,700 new planes.
   Airport authorities and the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control system are having difficulty keeping up with this growth and demand. Hallett said that the country is in desperate need to get new technology, such as global positioning systems and other air space management tools, that replace the current system, which is largely based on concepts dating back to World War II.
   “Delays are worse than the air traffic controllers' strike of 1981,” Hallett said. Flight delays and cancellations cost the U.S. economy $6 billion last year, she said.
   The U.S. government's aviation trust fund contains about $13 billion for infrastructure improvements.”The FAA needs to be told in clear and absolute terms: get the job done,” Hallett said.