By NICK ABADJIAN

As Queens elected officials went to Washington this week to commend the Federal Aviation Administration’s lottery to curb air traffic and runway delays at LaGuardia Airport, some still felt that although congestion in the skies over the borough may not get worse, it may not exactly get better either.

"The FAA has taken a modest step, and are to be commended, but there are still too many flights," said Congressman Anthony Weiner on the heels of the announcement of the lottery – an FAA effort designed to reduce congestion at LaGuardia Airport.

According to the FAA, congestion at LaGuardia was responsible for a quarter of the nation’s flight delays in September 2000.

Officials said that LaGuardia airport was on its way to gaining an estimated 300 new daily flights by the end of the year until the FAA put a lid on it in the form of the lottery which is anticipated to limit the number of extra flights to 159.

For what has been called the "safety and the movement of air traffic," the FAA decided to conduct a lottery among the airlines filing for air slots opened by the AIR-21 ruling passed in Congress earlier this year.

The lottery took place at FAA’s Washington headquarters on Monday Dec. 4 and allocated to LaGuardia 159 air slots, which were divided among 13 carriers.

The allocated air slots will take effect on Jan. 15, 2001 and last through Sept. 15, 2001.

But some feel that the lottery is only a short-term solution that will not end LaGuardia’s woes just yet.

"The lottery is not a cure-all for the congestion at LaGuardia," said Jim Peters, spokesperson for the FAA. "The lottery was designed to alleviate some congestion, but even before AIR-21, LaGuardia was one of the busiest airports in the country."

Queens Congress members, and Borough President Claire Shulman testified at a hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation about the lottery on Tuesday.

The Queens delegates applauded the FAA’s efforts to remedy LaGuardia’s congestion, but the subcommittee questioned the FAA authority to conduct the lottery.

"We need to further scale back flights to and from LaGuardia. We must impose a curfew after 11 p.m., and push the industry into developing even quieter engines," said Congressman Joe Crowley before a Congressional transportation subcommittee.

"Presently, there is a takeoff and landing at LaGuardia every 30 seconds," said Congressman Gary Ackerman who questioned, "how much more can we push the envelope?"

In March of this year, Congress passed a bill called AIR-21 designed to lift flight restrictions placed on start-up and regional airlines on adding additional flights to small cities.

The result was "a complete feeding frenzy at LaGuardia" as described by Congressman Joseph Crowley .

Following the passage of Air-21, airlines filed for 600 new flights at LaGuardia and, as of Nov. 1, the airport was operating 200 of those new flights, according to the FAA.

In September, the Port Authority of New York And New Jersey (PA), which operates the airport, invoked a temporary moratorium on new flights during peak hours, yet the delays persist, officials said.

Some Queens elected officials don’t feel the FAA’s lottery will curb air traffic congestion over LaGuardia Airport.

"Unfortunately, no one could have anticipated that the major carriers would act so vigorously to defend their competitive position at LaGuardia Airport by adding so many flights so as to exact huge economic consequences on the flying public and on the very same small airlines and small cities that the bill was intended to assist," said William DeCota, director of aviation for the PA.

"The present situation at LaGuardia is a death sentence waiting for victims. The passengers who fly in and out of the airport are placed at risk for the sake of profits," said Congressman Gary Ackerman, who explained that he recently spent six hours grounded at LaGuardia following a three-hour flight from Florida.

"We cannot wait for mid-air collisions over the New York skyline to do something about LaGuardia’s unsafe level of operations. Do we really need to see planes crashing into Shea Stadium, Long Island Sound or the Empire State Building before saying ‘oops’?" Ackerman said.

According to the FAA, some flights experience an average ground delay time that exceeds the scheduled flight time with LaGuardia – even on good weather days — experiencing as many as 600 flight delays.

"These delays are translated into disrupted airline schedules, cancellations and frustrated air travelers across the US," said Jane Garvey, administrator to the FAA in a letter to the Port Authority.

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend last month was quite a crunch with an estimated 408,000 people using LaGuardia according to the PA.

Rain and fog banded together on the Sunday after Thanksgiving to create afternoon flight delays of 2 1/2 hours said PA spokesman Greg Trevor.

The following day, LaGuardia reached a peak of 1,456 operations, which consists of takeoffs and landings.

Passengers and area residents contend that delays and flight cancellations have plagued LaGuardia ever since AIR-21 was implemented in April.

Short for H.R. 1000, the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment Reform Act of the 21st Century, AIR-21 was passed by Congress in mid-March.

The bill’s intent was to make skies safer, modernize air traffic control, reduce flight delays and boost airline competition.

"Air travelers are the big winners," said Congressman Bud Shuster of Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee, after the bill was signed. "With AIR-21, the money the traveling public pays in ticket taxes will finally be dedicated solely to improving the safety and efficiency of our aviation system. This legislation will go a long way toward relieving our overburdened aviation system."

AIR-21 is a three-year bill that increased the government’s investment towards aviation by $10 billion. The investment is intended for radar modernization and airport construction projects.

"AIR-21 is a good piece of legislation that is respective of JFK and protective of those people that live around JFK," said Mike McKay, spokesman for Congressman Gregory Meeks, whose 6th district includes JFK airport. AIR-21 pumped $14 million into the district for improving the airport and sound proofing the schools.

McKay said he knows what it’s like to live around an airport because his parents live in Rockaway, practically in "JFK’s backyard." McKay explained that a very important part of AIR-21 is that it extended the High Density Rule which enforces flight restrictions.

The High Density Rule is a regulation that began limiting the number of air ‘slots’ at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports in 1969.

Current administration and congressional leadership were looking at removing the High Density Rule before a compromise was met and AIR-21 extended the High Density Rule for LaGuardia and JFK until 2007.

"It stopped the bleeding," said McKay. "If it wasn’t for Congressman Meeks and his colleagues [who signed for AIR-21 and pushed for the extension of the High Density Rule], our constituents would have more 747’s roaring over them."

Borough President Claire Shulman, who lobbied against the part of AIR-21 that loosened air restrictions, teamed up with the Giuliani Administration and sued the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in a federal court for not overseeing the implementation of AIR-21 in a responsible way.

"The US DOT did not require environmental impact studies before allowing hundreds of new flights to be added at New York’s airports, which are located in densely populated areas," said Shulman.

Congress has made some exceptions to High Density Rule, in order to promote competition and spur startups and regional airliners that served small cities.

AIR-21 allowed for an unlimited amount of exemptions to airlines that have less than 20 slots at LaGuardia.

It also exempted carriers serving small airports with airplanes having less than 71 passenger seats.

Yet, of the more than 600 requests for the AIR-21 slots, over 530 of these flights were filed by major airlines.