Ten years into the program, new technology for the Federal Aviation
Administration’s Next Generation Air Transportation System is gradually
coming online. But non-technical issues are delaying many of the
promised benefits and creating skepticism in the airline industry.
“NextGen is more than a technical platform, it has to be useable,”
FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta told a House panel July 17.
Implementing the program is a delicate balance of integrating
technology with training and policy across multiple air carriers, the
FAA and airports. New GPS-based navigation systems have to be installed
in aircraft, and new tracking systems, monitors and software are needed
in FAA air traffic control facilities and airports. Decisions on
enabling the use of new take-off, landing and in-flight navigation
procedures then have to be made on a user-by-user, location-by-location
basis.
Difference in flight paths of planes approaching Houston airport.
Still, “we are delivering NextGen on time and on target,” Huerta told
the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation.
Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III
disagreed. He cited an FAA internal study that concluded that completion
of the NextGen program could be 10 years late and cost two to three
times the initial $40 billion price estimate.
He said the problems are the result of inadequate planning, slow
decision making and a change-averse FAA culture. And there also is what
one congresswoman called “the elephant in the room”: funding.
“We don’t believe funding has been an issue” for the NextGen program
to date, Scovel said. But that could change with sequestration and a
House Transportation budget for fiscal 2014 that cuts NextGen spending
for the first time.
Scovel urged the committee to “hold FAA’s feet to the fire,” to
produce more near-term benefits that could encourage airlines to more
swiftly adopt NextGen technology.
The Next Generation Air Transportation program began in 2004 to
transition the Air Traffic Control system from outdated ground-based
radar to satellite-based GPS. This requires new technology for the FAA’s
basic ground infrastructure as well as new systems for air traffic
controllers and aircraft.
NextGen was to be in place by 2025, but that appears to be an
increasingly difficult deadline to meet. Although elements of the system
now are in place and new navigation procedures are producing cost and
scheduling benefits at some airports, Scovel said flatly that “2025 is
off the table.”
Key pieces of technology for enabling NextGen include the Standard
Terminal Automation Replacement Systems to update equipment used by air
traffic controllers, an effort that dates back to 1999. STARS was
supposed to be completed by 2017 at a cost of $438 million, but the cost
and schedule now are uncertain.
The En Route Automation Modernization system, which
replaces and enhances software at 20 FAA centers that manage
high-altitude air traffic, is the primary platform for processing flight
data. That program was to be done in 2010 for $2.1 billion, but has
been pushed back to 2014 with an added $330 million in costs.
Huerta cited benefits that have been gained from initial deployments of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology, which uses GPS positioning data rather than ground radar to provide more accurate location information to pilots and controllers. This technology can allow more efficient use of air space and of take-off and landing slots at airports. Huerta said use of the system by some aircraft have provided an estimated $2.3 million in fuel savings for airlines at Washington’s Reagan National and Dulles International airports. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield, it has increased take-offs and landings by 10 percent and saved an estimated $20 million in fuel.
Huerta cited benefits that have been gained from initial deployments of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology, which uses GPS positioning data rather than ground radar to provide more accurate location information to pilots and controllers. This technology can allow more efficient use of air space and of take-off and landing slots at airports. Huerta said use of the system by some aircraft have provided an estimated $2.3 million in fuel savings for airlines at Washington’s Reagan National and Dulles International airports. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield, it has increased take-offs and landings by 10 percent and saved an estimated $20 million in fuel.
But Scovel said only a small percentage of eligible flights are using
the technology, and airlines remain skeptical of the benefits of
cockpit upgrades.
The wild card in FAA’s ability to complete deployment of NextGen is
funding. The House Transportation bill for fiscal 2014 cuts NextGen
capital investment funding by $43.6 million.
“What that forces us to do is make tradeoffs between maintenance of
the current infrastructure and investment in NextGen,” Huerta said. He
said the FAA is working with industry now to prioritize NextGen
activities and identify areas for cutting under the current budget
because of sequestration.
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