US Airways had an exceptionally good month here and throughout its network, a reflection perhaps of a greater focus by management on its Philadelphia operations. (We single out US Airways because it has 61 percent of the passengers and more than two-thirds of the takeoffs and landings at Philadelphia.)
The weather probably played a part in the January airport numbers. Philadelphia experienced days of rain, fog and light snow during the month but had no heavy snow, freezing rain or thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service (http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=phi). Airports hit by that kind of disruptive weather usually have some of the worst on-time records for any given month.
Changes in takeoff procedures implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration as part of its airspace-redesign plan also may be helping speed up air traffic. FAA officials say now that they are using different flight paths for aircraft leaving the airport, they are seeing a nearly 15 percent reduction in the time planes spend waiting on the runway for takeoff at certain times of the day.
Opponents of the FAA airspace-redesign plan point to another factor that could be the best explanation for both departure and arrival performance improving at the Philadelphia and New York-area airports: Airlines are trimming their schedules to save money in the face of mounting fuel costs and soft demand because of the economy.
Philadelphia had 2.7 percent fewer takeoffs and landings in January than during the same month in 2007, according to the city's Division of Aviation. The biggest decline was in the number of commuter flights. That followed an even larger reduction in commuter flights in December, a month in which airline flights using larger planes actually went up a little.
