New York gets own air czar

BY BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, April 9th 2008, 4:00 AM

A Staten Islander who worked to rebuild lower Manhattan after the terrorist attacks was tapped Tuesday to break the logjam in the skies over New York.

Marie Kennington-Gardiner was appointed to the new position of New York aviation czar by U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

"With the appointment of our new czar...we are tackling the aviation congestion and delays that grounded passengers and economic opportunities alike in the New York region last year," Peters said.

A New York native, Kennington-Gardiner, 41, is currently director of the Lower Manhattan Recovery Office, coordinating federal emergency transit investments following the 9/11 attacks.

She has previously held several senior management positions at the Federal Aviation Administration.

A study released in February showed that in 2007 more than a quarter of all domestic flights at the area's three main airports were late or canceled.

Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports had the lowest on-time records of the 32 major airports ranked in a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Officials have blamed the local bottlenecks as a source for later delays at airports across the country.

Kennington-Gardiner said there's "no single silver bullet" to solve the problems.

"There's been a lot of hard work and diligence from folks that came before me and laid out individual pieces of how to tackle congestion. Now they need to be integrated," she told the Daily News.

"I'm just looking forward to putting the pieces together and coming up with a complete solution."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who called for a regional aviation czar in October, applauded Kennington-Gardiner as a "strong choice" for the job.

"The FAA must allow the new air czar to quickly deal with problems on the ground and mounting delays without going through a chain of bureaucracy," Schumer said. "But, make no mistake about it, much more needs to be done before New Yorkers receive adequate air service."

whutchinson@nydailynews.com