Big dustup between U.S. DOT and NY airports over slots, congestion

The Bush administration's Transportation officials, after months of work. have come up with a solution to air-traffic congestion around New York-area airports that landed like a lead balloon today. The Port Authority of NY & NJ, owner-operator of Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark, vowed to fight DOT on the plan for auctioning takeoff-and-landing slots. DOT says that's the best way to trim delays, which have a cascading effect on air traffic across the rest of the country.

At PHL, some delays have always been attributed to proximity to the NY area but DOT has not considered a similar solution to the congestion -- and it would no doubt be greeted here with the same enthusiasm it was in NY. DOT's plan was quickly opposed by airlines, New Jersey Democraic Sen. Bob Menendez and the Business Travel Coalition -- and those are just the ones whose e-mail list we were on today. Read the back and forth between the Port Authority and the feds here.