The Change Mariner

Tripling of Capacity for Air Traffic Is Sought

New York Times:

The secretary of transportation called Tuesday for tripling the air traffic capacity of the United States in the next 15 to 20 years to make room for more jet taxis, private jets, airliner traffic and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

The secretary, Norman Y. Mineta, said that air travel was recovering from the terrorist attacks of 2001 because of improved security and a rebounding economy and that new runways, control towers, air traffic computers and other improvements were being added. But, Mr. Mineta said, "the changes that are coming are too big, too fundamental for incremental adaptations of the infrastructure."

If the United States wants to retain global leadership in aviation, he said, "we need to modernize and transform our global transportation system, starting right now."