The U.S. Department of Transportation has reported that “tarmac delays”—incidents in which passengers are kept on the plane during long take-off delays—hit their lowest total since rules fining airlines for allowing them went into effect five years ago.
Thirty domestic flights had delays on the ground of 3 hours or more; 9 international flights waited 4 hours or more. The standards are different for the two categories. That compares to 868 incidents before the rules, and to at compares to 84 domestic/55 international last year.
More DETAILS from USA Today
And by the way, a tip of the hat to DOT and the airlines for rescuing a grand old word from oblivion. “Tarmac” Say it a few times. Feels good.
Thanks Paul.
Had to chuckle at that one !
I take it that Tarmac is a rarely used word – over on your side of the pond.
I’ll add it to the queue of everyday words I use when I’m in the US.
Tarmacadam is a good word to use – when discussing relaying pavements !
I think you should start a campaign to reinstate old words !
That would be very astute of you .
When I was young, which is not recently, alas, I heard it more. These days in U.S. it seems only to be used for airport runways, and for an indpendent local car repair place near me in Brooklyn…
“A man walks into a bar with a lump of tarmac under his arm. ‘What would you like?’ asks the barman. The man replies, ‘A pint of beer and one for the road.’