From: johnl@iecc.com   
      
   >> Interesting report.  But at some point the airlines are going to have   
   >> to put large planes to work on the East Coast to carry future demand.   
   >> Many small airplanes simply clog up the runways.   
   >   
   >The trend is toward smaller planes because they can just bribe   
   >politicians to spend billions in taxpayers' money expanding airports.   
      
   Sheesh.  Not everything is a conspiracy.  Airlines moved to smaller   
   planes so they could have more frequent service, for the lucrative   
   business travellers who are more time sensitive than price sensitive.   
      
   Then fuel prices went up, and they noticed that the per passenger cost   
   of flying small planes is awful, and they consolidated back into   
   larger planes.  This year fuel prices are back down, so I expect we'll   
   see smaller planes again.   
      
   Bribing politicians to expand airports is at best a very long term   
   investment, and in some areas useless.  No amount of bribery will   
   cause new runways to be built at LGA or DCA.  Fortunately, they are   
   probably the two US airports with the largest amount of traffic that   
   could plausibly move to rail.   
      
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