The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has selected contentious new flight patterns for the congested airspaces over New York and Philadelphia.
More than 31,000 square miles of airborne highways over five states are set to be rerouted for the first time since the 1960s, preventing an estimated 12 million minutes in flight delays, and saving airlines up to $720 million each year, according to FAA estimates.
However, several communities near the country’s largest airports will see aircraft flying directly overhead for the first time. A number of senators have already voiced their concerns.
Towns in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania will be directly under new flight paths if FAA plans go ahead.
Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg wrote in a letter to Marion Blakey, the FAA Administrator, that the adjustments would entail unacceptable noise levels for as many as 300,000 residents in New Jersey alone.
“Your proposal will have massive negative quality of life implications for hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans, and reduce property values for many in our states,” the Democrat senators said in their correspondence.
The new route map was chosen ahead of three alternative plans and will primarily affect the approach and departure routes at New York JFK, Newark, LaGuardia, and Philadelphia airports.
Due to be implemented over the next six years, the $50 million proposal was based on research into flight routes from 21 of the country’s busiest airports.
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