Earth Equity News

Struggling Airlines Burdened by Ambitious Airport Expansions. By Michele Maynard, NYTimes, October 29, 2008. "Airports around the country broke ground on dozens of projects over the last decade, including new runways and terminals, to handle all the new passenger traffic that seemed certain to keep growing. Now, many of those new developments are being completed. And the timing could not be worse. Airlines, after all, are grounding hundreds of planes and cutting as much as 20 percent of their domestic flying schedule because of last summer's high oil prices and the weakening economy. More cuts are planned for next year... New runways are open or about to be dedicated at Chicago O'Hare, Washington Dulles and Seattle-Tacoma. A new terminal opened in Detroit recently, and the new Terminal 5 at Kennedy International Airport, home to JetBlue Airways, opened last week... But there is a cost to airlines and passengers who pay for these projects through leases and higher ticket fees. And some airline executives, who once pleaded with airport officials for more runways and gates, are speaking out against more construction on top of projects that have cost tens of billions of dollars over the last decade."