Airlines serving Newark Liberty International Airport have agreed to temporarily cap the number of flights at 83 per hour during peak periods, said the Department of Transportation. The cap goes into effect in early May.
Airlines can avoid service cuts by shifting flights to times of the day when the airport has unused capacity, said DOT Secretary Mary Peters. The flight cap at Newark follows a limitation on hourly flights at New York’s Kennedy Airport that will go into effect later this month.
In remarks today at the Federal Aviation Administration Forecast Conference in Washington, Peters thanked airlines for their cooperation in reaching the agreement.
Peters also said the DOT would auction slots at Newark as capacity at the airport grows. Peters said auctioning slots encourages competition and allows new entrants.