Three of America's busiest airports opened new runways this year, creating the largest one-day increase in aviation capacity in more than a decade, USA Today reported.
Flights are scheduled to land on new runway strips at Chicago O'Hare International, Seattle-Tacoma International and Washington Dulles International.
At Seattle alone, the new runway will allow as many as 20 more planes an hour in bad weather, about a 60 percent increase.
The new runways won't solve the broader problems that clog the air-traffic system, particularly in the New York region, but they promise immediate improvements at the three airports and slight progress nationwide.
Lack of runways at critical locations is one of the biggest chokepoints in the US aviation system.
In Seattle, the airport projects it can reduce delays due to air- traffic restrictions by more than 50 percent.
The additional runway at O'Hare will be the seventh at the airport. It will allow the FAA to lift flight caps imposed in 2004 after massive delays crippled operations in Chicago.
The three latest runways cost a total of US$1.9 billion.
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