All three international airports in the New York area are destined to remain overcapacity for at least the next 15 years, meaning more annoying and costly delays for airlines and travelers.
A report published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the state of airport funding and infrastructure on Thursday found that six airports in the United States will be “capacity constrained” through to 2020.
The six international airports include all three New York area facilities—John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty—plus Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
Worse news for New York fliers is that at LaGuardia and JFK, “delays are expected to worsen such that congestion will become severe,” according to a long-term outlook released by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in January.
Capacity-constrained means average flight delays of 15 minutes or more per flight, and it’s considered “severe” if this is the situation at least 50 percent of the time.
