Air trips slowest in past 20 years

0 Comments | USA TODAY, April, 2008 | by Thomas Frank

WASHINGTON -- Air travel is slower than at any time in the past two decades, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

Congestion on the ground and in the sky is adding more than an hour to some routes as planes take longer to taxi and fly to their destinations, according to USA TODAY's computer review of millions of Department of Transportation (DOT) records.

Some examples are stark: The typical flight from Las Vegas to New York's Kennedy Airport last year took six hours and 10 minutes, compared with four hours and 37 minutes in 1988. Flying from Honolulu to San Diego took on average seven hours and 23 minutes last year, while the same trip took five hours two decades ago.

"Flights are being held longer on the ground and taking longer in the air," said David...