NextGen Love Fest Bodes Well for Progress

Air Safety Week, June 8, 2009

Industry associations, top-level federal officials, aviation union bosses and influential lawmakers appear united in their support of long-term FAA funding and the expeditious implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).

Last year's contentious debate over NextGen was nowhere in sight at a recent Senate aviation subcommittee hearing with witnesses calmly expressing their position on funding and looking to the larger issues of airspace capacity, fuel savings and safety improvements that would result from fielding of the satellite-based air traffic control system.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Senate confirmed Randy Babbitt as FAA administrator and the House of Representatives passed H.R. 915, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009, which would fund the multi-year and multi-billion dollar air traffic control modernization project. The measure is nearly identical to H.R. 2881, which passed the House but stalled in the Senate last year. The bill expired in 2008 at the end of the 110th Congress, but the aviation agency's funding has been preserved through a series of extensions.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, believes "modernization of air traffic control will fundamentally transform the way we travel. More efficient use of airspace will cut costs for everyday fliers, while also accommodating millions of additional passengers with less congestion and fewer delays. It is imperative that we take this opportunity to reauthorize the FAA to make certain NextGen is adequately funded for implementing key programs."

Sen. Byron Dorgan, chairman of the aviation subcommittee, promised to "push the FAA to accelerate the modernization of the nation's air traffic control system. The antiquated system we're currently using doesn't allow for improvements in safety, congestion, or environmental impact of aviation...There is a pressing need to make sure our aviation infrastructure provides safety for our passengers."

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the ranking republican on the Commerce panel, said "legislation reauthorizing the FAA should focus on improving air safety and implementing the nation's next generation air traffic control system.

"We have a tremendous opportunity over the next few months to make great strides toward modernizing our air traffic control system and putting the FAA on the right path. We have an opportunity to directly impact and accelerate the FAA's air traffic control modernization efforts. While the FAA has been moving in the right direction, Congress needs to provide further clarification on what we expect in the short-term.

"While sound long-term planning is still an important cog in the overall process, it is time for the FAA to effectively and efficiently start implementing NextGen. We need to start seeing the development of programs and projects that provide specific benefits and efficiencies to the users of the system. We cannot expect stakeholders to support NextGen and the investment necessary if the FAA cannot demonstrate the benefits of modernization.

"In order to pass an FAA Reauthorization bill this year, we are going to need a lot of cooperation and understanding from the aviation community, the Administration, and Congress. As exhibited by the process last year, this bill cannot carry or be the vehicle for controversial provisions. Passing an FAA bill should be a priority for this Congress. This is a fragile process and Congress should focus on safety improvements and NextGen acceleration and not get bogged down with issues that could ultimately lead to the challenges we faced last Congress," Hutchinson stated.

FAA reauthorization is an opportunity to accelerate NextGen, testified Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Marion Blakey. "NextGen will be a huge shot in the arm to the civil aviation sector and provide welcome relief to harried air travelers by reducing delays and shortening travel time."

The three significant challenges ahead for accelerating NextGen are building infrastructure, publishing system-wide satellite-based procedures wherever possible and equipping aircraft to take advantage of NextGen benefits as soon as possible.

Blakey stressed the importance of establishing a solid funding regime to support NextGen including long-term FAA authorization.

"The cost to the airlines and the cost to the environment are simply unacceptable, especially when we all know they can be significantly reduced. Delays cost the traveling public as well - billions of dollars in lost productivity. And consider, too, that these are unnecessary costs to consumers. Manufacturers are designing and building 21st century aircraft. However our air traffic system has not moved into the 21st century - it is virtually the same system in which the noisier, dirtier aircraft of the 1960s flew," said Blakey, a former FAA administrator.

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), said reauthorization of FAA programs and funding must ensure that ATC modernization be done early - in the next several years rather than over the next decade - through a suite of key technologies and procedures being called NowGen.