JFK Airport is Constipation International

Airport's longest runway closed for repaving

New York's already congested John F. Kennedy International Airport has gotten that much worse with the shutdown of the longest of its four runways for repaving. The Bay Runway, which pilots know as 13R-31L, sticks out into Jamaica Bay. The repaving project started on March 1 and is expected to be out of service for four months. Color me skeptical, but I'd put my money on construction delays. Why should repaving be completed on time when hardly anything else at the airport ever seems to be?

According to reports, one-third of JFK's traffic, including something like half of the departures, are using the three smaller runways. If you've ever flown in or out of JFK, you have seen (and waited in) long conga lines, even under the best of circumstances, and I'm afraid that New York rarely enjoys the best of circumstances. When I fly to Europe, I already try to avoid Chicago's O'Hare, especially in winter. I was beginning to feel more tolerant of JFK since the installation of a monorail connecting terminals, making plane changes a more efficient and pleasant process. But now....

International carriers using JFK must endure the construction delays, but domestic carriers have more flexibility. JetBlue, American and Delta and perhaps others have cut their schedules while the main runway is being repaved. That means those of us who connect to international flights at JFK might now be forced to us LaGuardia, another miserable, delay-plagues airport, or if they do manage a domestic flight to JFK, the fares might well have increased.

Even before 14,572-foot Bay Runway was closed, the US Department of Transportation ranked JFK a pathetic 28th out of 31 major airports in terms of delays, which the Federal Aviation Administration expects to be the Federal Aviation Administration expects delays to be about 50 minutes during peak times and 29 minutes off-peak. Fifty minutes sounds better than an hour, and 29 minutes better than half-an hour, which is bad enough. In order to make the next numbers sound better, airlines have begun padding their schedules by adding expected waiting times into their flight times so that they won't go on record as "delayed" or "late." If you're flying via JFK, bring a good book.