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NEW YORK (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday said it has selected a new flight pattern to ease delays in the congested airspace around New York and Philadelphia, but the new system will also bring noisy jets over some communities for the first time.
The redesign plan involves alterations to the airborne highways across 31,000 square miles in five states. FAA officials said the option they selected will bring desperately needed efficiency to a patchwork airspace map that has been unchanged since the 1960s.
The new system will save an estimated 200,000 hours in delays a year — or about six minutes per flight — at the region's four major airports. The FAA estimates the reduction could save the airlines as much as $720 million a year.
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