Poll: Most NYers Don't Want New Airport

Despite the delays, the cancellations, and the dangerously overcrowded skies, a newly-released poll shows that two-thirds of the residents of the 31-county NYC metropolitan area don't support the building of a new airport.

The survey found, over all, that respondents tended not to prioritize lower airfares or increasing the number of destinations reachable from the area’s airports. In fact, a slight majority supported banning smaller planes with fewer than 80 seats during the peak hours, and 51 percent favored banning flights of less than 300 miles during those same hours. New York City, which serves as a gateway for many international flights into North America, is among the busiest aviation hubs in the world. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration declared that two of the three New York City-area airports had reached operational capacity. A result of the congestion is more and more delays. Only two-thirds of the aircraft at New York City’s major airports had on-time departures in 2007, and only 60 percent had on-time arrivals. Each New York delay causes more than two delays elsewhere, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the three airports. As a result, nearly three-quarters of nationwide delays originate in New York area airspace, officials say.

According to a study performed by a business association, NYC-based flight delays cost the local economy almost $3B annually in lost productivity. The above-linked story says nothing about the shabby physical conditions of LGA and JFK.