The value of cheap fares, particularly cheap airplane tickets, is diminished when travelers fly out of airports suffering from chronic flight delays. The GAO (Government Accountability Office) has released a report which says more delays at major airports across the country are attributed to Atlantas Hartsfield-Jackson International airport than at any other.
The Atlanta airport is the worlds busiest airport. This airport ranked 29th out of 31 major U.S. airports for on-time performance in 2009. The Atlanta airport blames the reports finding on the large amount of traffic it handles and claims that given its traffic it only makes sense that delays in Atlanta negatively impact more travelers across the country than any other U.S. airport.
The GAOs report noted that while total airline on-time performance improved across the country in 09, it declined in Atlanta. Fewer than 73 percent of Atlantas flights arrived on time in 09 vs. almost 76 percent in 08. Experts point to the increase in the number of scheduled flights as the main reason for the higher delay rate.
Atlantas airport has shown on-time improvement during the first four months of this year, with 79 percent of its flights arriving on time, earning an on-time number 16 ranking.
Additional actions need to be taken, according the GAO report, or the Atlanta airport will remain one of the few airports in the country that may not be able to handle future increases in air travel demand. Those actions include new runways, new traffic management measures such as hourly flight caps, and improved air traffic management technology.
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