Washington - Today, President Bush met with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to discuss the issue of extreme flight delays. Instead of emerging from the meeting to announce concrete proposals, the president merely announced that he had asked Peters to work on the problem.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a leader on the reduction of flight delays who last month sent a letter to the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration urging new ideas to reduce delays, said that the lack of a concrete announcement today is not helping the situation.

"I know the president doesn't have to worry about delays traveling on Air Force One, but if he was in touch with the woes of the regular air traveler, he would have realized that concrete federal action was needed long ago," said Menendez. "Air travelers spent this summer endlessly waiting in the airport terminal and on the tarmac, and those excruciating delays are projected to get worse. We need more than a recognition of the problem, we need action from the FAA."

Last month, Menendez called on the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration to determine new approaches to reducing delays, including possible flight schedule reductions (http://menendez.senate.gov/pdf/082107lettertofaa.pdf).

That call was echoed by outgoing FAA chief Marion Blakey, who in a speech earlier this month called on airlines to reduce schedules or otherwise face federal action (http://menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=282360).

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