Transportation Industry

Air Transport News

AirGuide Business, Oct 13, 2008

Oct 13, 2008

GAO says that the Federal Aviation Administration has more work to do in coming up with adequate planning for the development of a next generation air traffic system. The GAO said that the FAA has shown executive-level commitment to addressing systemic factors that have contributed to historic cost overruns and schedule delays with key air traffic control (ATC) acquisition programs. A GAO report on the process says that the FAA has improved its acquisition management in response to recommendations by the GAO but a need for improvement remains in area such as ensuring transparency on rebaselined programs. The GAO report said that the FAA needs to continue its progress in managing acquisitions, since it will be acquiring billions of dollars of new systems as part of the NextGen transformation. The Air Traffic Organization[sup.1]s Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) has completed the initial versions of three basic planning documents for NextGen, but many aviation stakeholders felt the documents, which focus on a 2025 time frame, lack the information that industry needs to make near-term business decisions to support NextGen. The GAO says that the multiple offices in ATO and FAA continue to have responsibility for NextGen. FAA's ability to implement NextGen will be affected by how it addresses research and development, human capital, and infrastructure challenges. Although research and development are critical for NextGen, research gaps exist because of a recent decline in NASA[sup.1]s aeronautical research funding and the expanded requirements of NextGen. FAA faces a human capital challenge of having the necessary knowledge and skills, such as contract management and system engineering expertise, to implement NextGen. In response to GAO[sup.1]s prior recommendation in September 2008, FAA expects to complete an analysis comparing the skills needed for NextGen with its current staff resources. However, it may take considerable time to hire what FAA estimates could be up to 200 more staff with the needed skills. FAA also faces the challenge of maintaining and repairing existing ATC infrastructure, such as radar stations, while consolidating or realigning its facilities to accommodate NextGen technologies and operations. An additional infrastructure challenge is increasing airport runway capacity to handle the expected increases in traffic. While FAA[sup.1]s plans call for building or expanding runways at the nation's 35 busiest airports, its analyses indicate that 14 more airports will still need additional runway capacity. These efforts to expand capacity by means of runway development could be delayed without significant reductions in emissions and noise around some airports. For more information, visit www.gao.gov Oct 9, 2008

ZZ AirGuide 081013

Editorial eMail: edit@AirGuideOnline.com

For Air Transport & Travel Business Experts contact our Director of Content Aram Gesar eMail: bizintel@AirGuideOnline.com

For Advertising and Marketing: advert@AirGuideOnline.com

For Custom Content: content@AirGuideOnline.com