FAA loses round over flight slots

The Government Accountability Office told the Bush administration it cannot auction takeoff and landing slots in an effort to curb airport traffic jams. (Mark Lennihan/Associated Press)

WASHINGTON - US aviation officials have no legal authority to auction off takeoff and landing slots at airports, a plan the government devised to try to curb crippling traffic jams at major airports, congressional investigators say.

The letter from the Government Accountability Office comes amid a legal fight among airlines, airport operators, and the Federal Aviation Administration over the Bush administration's plan to trim flight delays by auctioning slots at New York City-area airports.

The legal opinion is another blow to administration officials who hope to get their air traffic experiment off the ground before they leave office in four months.

"We conclude that FAA may not auction slots under its property disposition authority, user fee authority, or any other authority, and thus also may not retain or use proceeds of any such auctions," GAO general counsel Gary Kepplinger wrote to lawmakers who sought the legal opinion.

Transportation Department spokesman Brian Turmail said the GAO was unfamiliar with aviation law, and had little time to study it.

"Should Congress give the agency an opportunity to conduct a more thorough review, we are confident that GAO will better understand both the validity and the effectiveness of our approach," Turmail said in a statement.

A number of congressional lawmakers had requested the legal opinion as they tried to stop the FAA's limited tryout of a slot auction this fall at Newark-Liberty Airport.

"This once again shows that the DOT needs to put a stop to this ideological battle that would cause chaos at New York airports. The administration has tried to jam through a half-baked plan that can't even be implemented," said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, one of the agency's biggest critics.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters proposed the auction plan after widespread complaints last year about rampant flight delays nationwide. The government says two out of three flights delayed 15 minutes or more were due to cascading backups beginning at one of the New York metropolitan area's three airports: Newark, John F. Kennedy, and LaGuardia.

Trying to fix the problem, the government imposed new limits on the airports and revealed plans to auction some takeoff and landing slots to control the crushing demand for time and space. By auctioning slots, the government reasons, market forces will help restrain such demand and make the system operate more efficiently.

Airlines and airports contend the auction proposal will add costs and make a mess of day-to-day airport operations.

The government pressed ahead with a trial effort at Newark to auction just two slots, but the FAA told them to wait.

An agency order lifting that stay was issued after the GAO legal finding yesterday, meaning the agency can in theory proceed with its trial auction in Newark.