Ben Mutzabaugh, who writes Today In The Sky for USA Today, wrote an interesting article about Philadelphia local politicians attempting to persuade carriers to shift flights from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) to ease delays at PHL. Two representatives, Joe Sestak of PA and Rob Andrews of NJ, Democrats, said moving 50,000 flights per year to Atlantic City International Airport could possibly cut delays at Philadelphia from an average of 23 minutes down to nine. Although there may be a lot to gain from this, there is a lot to lose.
“Shifting” these flights from Philadelphia to Atlantic City causes hassle; but how much? Google Maps tells us that it’s a 1 hour and nine minute drive from Philadelphia International to Atlantic City. Although official information is not available to tell us, we can make a fair guesstimate that over 50% of Philadelphia International Airport users are on the Pennsylvania side of things. If you’re south of the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, you’ll probably go to Baltimore-Washington (BWI). If you’re in northern Jersey, you’ll probably go to Newark or one of the other NYC airports. The shift to Atlantic City may decrease delays at Philadelphia International Airport, but it just adds more time to travelers’ commutes to the airport.
Less capacity and fewer schedule-fitting flights – this is already happening because of the recession. Should there really be yet another cut to schedules and capacity? It’s not the best for Philadelphians. How many flights does the airport fly each year currently? Well, in 2007 they saw about 500,000 flight operations; the politicians are proposing a ten percent cut in flights at the growing airport.
More money spent – shifting the flights to Atlantic City would cost about $1 million. No expansion is needed, except to security at Atlantic City. Remember, The FAA has had plans for an $840 million runway expansion at Philadelphia for quite some time now, and I think that may help quite a lot – larger aircraft can depart more runways.
I see the problems that the politicians talk about; there is no better way to put it, but there just isn’t any more room for growth at Philadelphia International. The new runway extension pretty much is all they can do right now. The Delaware River, which borders the airport, confines the airport to the small restricted space.
Other regional airports, besides Atlantic City, are being considered. Not too far away, and open for service, is Delaware’s Wilmington Airport; it saw brief airline service with SkyBus. To the west, where you have a good number of PHL users, there isn’t too much. It resurrects my recollection of the glory days of when Wings Field, just 45 minutes northwest (by car), was the state’s third largest airport; and it had airline service. Those days are long over now that there are plenty of highways to transport you much quicker to surrounding areas.
It’s such a loss to Philadelphia International Airport if carriers shift flights. However, if it HAS to be done, then so be it – at this point, I see Atlantic City as more of a hassle than anything else.
I got news for ya, PHL airport will have to expand because the arport is going to continue to grow regardless of whether the airlines shift to AC or Wilmington DL or any other airport. If Phl airport isn’t expanded then there will be a need for a replacement airport which would cost a fortunte. Failure to expand the airport at all will cost Philadelphia future jobs and money which would be far worst.
While initially I’d agree that PHL has to expand, the question is… where? If PHL tries to expand south, east, or west, the airport could run the possibility of cutting off shipping via the Delaware River. North of the airport lies the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, which I believe is protected. PHL is already one of the most heavily delayed airports in the U.S.; wouldn’t more terminal space overwhelm the system further? The City of Philadelphia is already on a tight budget, and it’s questionable whether the FAA would give grants for such an enormous project.
As for your mention of relocating the airport – where? The general problem is space. The City of Philadelphia is already on a population decline, and removing / bulldozing homes will do nothing but worsen the situation. I understand the need of the expansion… but where?
You ask where? Where could the airport expend? You are right about the Delaware river, John Heinz Wildlife Refuge and and other obstructions to PHL’s expansion and I don’t pretend to have the answers how to expand the airport or where to build a replacement airport but doing nothing is not an option and Not everyone is going to be on board to drive out of their way to AC airport from Philly or anywhere else from Pennsylvania. AC airport would work for the folks near Altantic City, not PA.
The city and the FAA will have to come up with something long term for the city because if we just say that there is no more room to expand the airport and do nothing, more people and jobs will leave the Philadelphia region and no new jobs would even consider coming here. It sounds like a loosing battle for the city.
The only idea I have would be to replace the airport with one out in the suburbs where few people would be affected but some people would have to move anyway but the state and city could work out some kind of plan for these folks affected. But the cost would be very expensive. Like I said I don’t protend to have the answers.