Can anyone end epic flight delays at airports?

(New York - WABC, June 16, 2007) (WABC) -- Flight cancellations and major delays have earned our three local airports a top spot as the nation's worst.

A new report from the FAA details the major problems.

Eyewitness News reporter Lisa Colagrossi haw those details.

The ranking is dismal. Let's take a look at some of the most dramatic numbers that the FAA found between January and April. Thirty eight percent, and think about how high this is, of all flights from JFK, LaGuardia or Newark were delayed or never got off the ground at all.

"I think it is the worst in Newark. But at the LaGuardia, I'm usually sitting on the runway," said traveler Bonnie Boon. "And it is usually if you're coming in during the rush hour, you know whenever the airport has the rush hour time, and that is what they say "it's traffic delay.""

When the flights were late, they were really late. On average at Newark, passengers sat around waited for 95 minutes and at LaGuardia the wait was an hour.

So why is it so bad? Bad weather and bad geography played a big role. Because of where we are located on the eastern seaboard, severe storms hit us especially hard on Tuesday, a prime example. Severe storms cancelled hundreds of flights at all three area airport and some people forced to sleep overnight in the airport.

Also, the FAA says our runway configurations are outdated which means more modern airports like Atlanta and Denver have much easier time of being able to land and landing more jets per hour.

"The worst is when you landed and there is no gate," traveler John King said. "You have to wait just for gates."

The FAA is about to improve a new flight pattern that should improve overall, not just New York airport but overall delays by about 200,000 hours a year.

Now, the airline and the FAA, they are pushing congress to upgrade the air traffic control systems that they have been pushing for a long time.

They are going to go little more high-tech such as using a global positioning satellite to better coordinate air traffic. Obviously, that is something congress is going to take a close look at to see if we can improve the situation here.

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