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US Government plans to halve flights into New York
New York’s tourism officials have vowed to fight plans by the US Government to cut flights in and out of New York’s three airports by up to 50% by next summer.
The Bush administration has unveiled plans to limit the number of flights in and out of JFK, Newark and La Guardia in order to curb congestion and encourage passengers to use its other US hubs.
But New York’s tourism body, NYC and Company, says the move will be catastrophic for the city’s tourism and economy.
“This is a real problem,” said Kim Spell, senior vice president communications at WTM in London this week.
“This flies in the face of Open Skies. Capping the number of flights into New York City airports is going to have a negative impact for the city, and the country’s tourism, not only for business travellers but also for families coming for tourism.”
Governors of New York have written letters to the Bush administration and the FAA in a bid to stop the plans, which were unveiled last month but have only just begun to come to the industry’s attention in the last week or so.
Airlines, including Delta and Continental, are also vehemently opposed to the proposed cuts, particularly in light of the recent Open Skies agreement which finally allows more airlines to fly from London to New York.
British Airways, which has unveiled plans to increase its schedules to the US following the Open Skies agreement, said it was monitoring the situation closely and will work with the US authorities.
“We have not specified which routes our planned EU-US service will operate between,” added a spokeswoman.
By Bev Fearis
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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