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Chicago O’Hare reclaimed the title of the world’s busiest airport, measured in take-offs and landings, taking the top spot from Atlanta, which falls to number 2. Delta’s recent cuts in their domestic schedule account for a large part of Atlanta’s drop.

Delays and cancellations at these and other U.S. airports this summer have been better than expected. But don’t celebrate too soon, especially not in Los Angeles. LAX is rebuilding one of its four runways. The reconstruction of the runway is scheduled to take 8 months, with another 16 months to finish the taxiways.

One of the reasons for the rebuilding is to make LAX capable of handling the Airbus A380. If Florida Republican John Mica has his way, no federal tax dollars will be spent on the venture. The chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee has introduced a bill to prohibit the use of federal airport grants for purposes of A380 refitting. His reasoning: No US-based commercial passenger airline has bought the (gasp!) French-built plane, so why should the US pay for airport improvements to handle it.

Putting aside arguments for/against an infrastructural change that directly benefits foreign passenger airlines, Congressman Mica forgot two things in his rush to jingoism: 1) Freight carriers use airports, too. Box-haulers like UPS and FedEx have ordered the A380, and presumably will want to land them at American airports. 2) Boeing’s next-generation 747, the 747-8, will have similar runway requirement as the A380, due to the streched 747’s greater weight. Brilliant.

Attention Florida voters: It’s never too late to register to vote…

tags: travel | airports | LAX | ORD | protectionism | John Mica