The FAA recently published an extensive report looking at the current and future capacity of the nation's 31 busiest airports including Sea-Tac.  This study is especially timely given the recent concerns about air travel delays, and questions about the need for the 3rd runway at Sea-Tac.
Interestingly, only 8 of the 31 airports had more than 3% of their flights delayed more than 15 minutes (as defined by the FAA).  The FAA's definition of "delayed" is strictly related to delay at the particular airport, so delays due to problems such as en-route weather or problems at other airports are not included. Only about 1% of flights were delayed at Sea-Tac Airport in the year 2000.  New York's LaGuardia, by comparison, had 15 times the number of delayed flights.  Sea-Tac didn't even come close to making the FAA's "Top Eight" list of airports with significant delay problems.
The FAA benchmarks Sea-Tac's capacity at about 90 flights per hour (departures and arrivals) under good conditions.  For comparison, LAX has a benchmark of 150 and San Diego about 50 flights per hour.
The study shows the 3^rd runway will, in theory, increase the capacity at Sea-Tac by about 50%.  This could ultimately mean more flights over dense residential neighborhoods than the Port of Seattle has led area residents to believe.  The increased potential capacity is in question, however, because the study did not consider taxiway congestion, gate congestion, and runway crossings, all of which may prove to be critical issues at Sea-Tac if the 3^rd runway is built.
Dr. Stephen Hockaday, a respected aviation consultant, analyzed the

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