The New York metropolitan region’s three major airports --- Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark – regularly register the worse delays among airports in the United States. Moreover, the air traffic capacity of these airports is at or close to its limits during peak times, with anticipated growth resulting in either more delays or thwarted air passenger travel. The lack of capacity to handle air passenger volumes, expected to reach upwards of 150 million by the late 2030s from 109 million today, will seriously impact the ability of the region to grow economically. Thus, solutions to this problem are vital to prevent these economic losses.

This report examines the variety of measures that might address the issues of delay and capacity limits. Possible steps include: greater use of other more outlying airports in the region, diversion of passengers to higher speed intercity rail, technological improvements to the air navigation system, management of demand through pricing and other means to shift air traffic from peak periods, and construction of an entirely new airport. The report concludes that intercity rail and navigational improvements, and some diversion to two outlying airports will be of assistance when taken together, but not nearly enough to address the need. Therefore, the addition of one or more runways at Kennedy and at Newark airport is by default the best option to provide the necessary capacity, if the redesign of these airports can be implemented. The report suggests some runway configurations at those two airports for consideration.