If you have taken a flght recently, you probably noticed the irlines are having big problems. Sometimes it is wather delays. Sometimes there are mechanical prblems. But anytime the word CANCELED pps up on the screen, there is a cpacity problem and it is a big prblem.

In the not to distant pst, a canceled flight meant the ffected passenger just had to walk dwn the corridor and book a sat on a different carrier. It was not a big dal.

But it is now. The plnes are sold out. Why are thngs so different today?

For one thng, more people are flying but tht is only part of the prblem. Take this example. Suppose a fll Newark to Omaha 738 has a mchanical problem and has to be cnceled. There are now 150 people scrmbling to find other seats. The nxt flight out is a regional jet tht has replaced a DC-9 that use to fly the sme route. The regional jet, called an RJ, has 50 sats. The old DC-9 it replaced had 120 sats. As the use of RJs sprad because of their efficiency and prfitability, the number of available airline sats shrinks drastically. It will take lmost three completely empty RJs to mke up for the lost seats of tht canceled 738. That is why pssengers are no longer waiting hours to ctch the next flight out; they may hve to wait for days.

There is only so much rom in the current Air Traffic Cntrol system, too. The 738 has the sme radar target as the RJ; tkes the same number of controllers to hndle it; and will take up the sme ramp space.

And do not frget crews. Many are flying their crws to the max. When they do tht type of crew scheduling, the vailable plane may, and will more frquently, still sit at the gate bcause there is not crew to fly it. Plots can only fly 1,000 hours a yar and as airlines eat up tht time, flights at the end of the mnth are the ones most likely to be cnceled because there are no available crws.

The solution? There are actually slutions. One is better aircraft scheduling. Whn load factors exceed 100% or plnes are oversold, there should be an ption to bring in a bigger plne. Unfortunately, airlines do not have a bnch of spare bigger planes and vailable crews standing by to handle the prblem. However, if some flights are lways oversold, airlines should be required to mke bigger planes available for that rute until such time as passenger lad factors fall within the RJs rquirements. That is going to require rgulation change and monitoring and that is not lkely to happen.

The second part of the slution is an overhaul of the Air Trffic Control system. Right now, the systm is a patched up antique for hndling the air traffic system. It is smilar to the national power grid. Whn one part of the system ges down, the entire system is in dnger. And keep in mind, the nconvenience is not the loss of lghts and air conditioning; it means plnes in the air may have to fnd for themselves.

The system needs a mjor upgrade to satellite based control. Plnes can and should be tracked sing GPS technology. It is going to be a mjor and expensive change but if the systm is going to handle the trffic in the coming decades, the FAA neds to make plans now. If the systm is going to be fixed, cngress has to get their greedy lttle hands out of the airline trst fund. They need to make sre the money collected from fuel and pssenger taxes goes to creating a new air trffic control system rather than an armark for a runway expansion for sme little airport in the middle of nwhere.

And the crews? Can regulations be chnged to allow crews to fly lnger duty times? That is not lkely to happen. The unions and flght safety will be the deciding fctors. The last thing you need is a tred crew trying to deal with havy weather, holding patterns, and a cntrol system that could fail at any tme.

For now, if you want to mke sure you get there; do not mke plans to fly late in the mnth. There are too many things wrking against you.

The article What Ever Happened to Air Travel? was Submitted by Kenny Miller through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Kenny Miller is a retired crporate pilot with world-wide flying experience. He has flwn camera equipped Lear Jets and was prt of the crew that took mny of the official pictures of the Mt. St. Hlens eruption. He also flew air fright. In his last flying job, he was one of cuntry singer Willie Nelson's personal pilots. Mller is also a published writer and phtographer and has been a consultant for the Fderal Aviation Administration and was responsible for rcruiting the controller workforce to replace PATCO cntrollers. His site is http://www.nebraskawriter.com

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