ATA and its member airlines believe that the current air traffic system is severely constrained. This human-centric, maintenance-intensive, ground-based system can no longer keep pace with user demand. Transformation will be difficult, but not because of a lack of technology. The true transition challenge will be a test of political will.
Employ a Sustainable and Equitable Funding Mechanism
Allocate costs fairly among users
Each user of the system drives certain costs. Users should expect to pay for the costs they drive, but should not subsidize others’ use of the system. The cost of services that benefit the general public, as opposed to the flying public, should be covered by the General Fund.
Create a reliable funding stream
Capacity enhancements are long-term investments and should be funded as such. It is absurd to expect the ATO to efficiently deliver on major programs if they are forced to fund them year-by-year.
Reduce the Cost of the Current System
Consolidate unnecessary facilities
Today’s communication technology eliminates the need for 21 enroute centers and 197 terminal radar approach control facilities. System-wide enroute traffic could be effectively managed from a few facilities at a fraction of the cost.
Decommission obsolete equipment and procedures
Some ground-based navigation equipment (e.g., non-directional beacons in the contiguous United States) is no longer compatible with a modern air navigation system and should be eliminated, along with flight procedures based on that equipment.
Rationalize the workforce
FAA should continue to flatten its organizational structure and improve workforce automation and productivity. The industry’s financial realities require an efficient, cost-effective, next-generation air traffic control system.
Increase the Capacity and Efficiency of the Current System
Leverage navigation equipment already onboard
The vast majority of the aircraft operated by ATA member airlines are equipped with advanced flight guidance and management systems capable of flying along very precise flight paths that are not dependent upon fixed airways. This shortens aircraft routings and increases system capacity without any degradation of safety. We need to aggressively expand the use of this capability.
Transition to performance-based NAS utilizing coordinate-based navigation system
Transitioning to RNAV and RNP procedures for enroute, terminal area and approach airspace will allow reduced separation standards and direct routings, increasing capacity and permitting shorter, more fuel-efficient flight paths. Advanced navigation systems can utilize surface or space-based equipment to execute precision flight paths allowing more airplanes to occupy a given volume of airspace.
Achieve visual arrival and departure rates during instrument conditions
With some exceptions, today’s system works well during fair weather. However, airport throughput decreases during low visibility conditions. Airspace design and airplane/airport equipage should strive toward keeping arrival and departure rates constant regardless of visibility conditions. Embrace enabling technologies that will reduce the impacts of weather.
Rationally segregate different types of aircraft to optimize traffic flow
Different aircraft types operate at different altitudes and speeds. Large transport aircraft generally fly faster and higher than smaller, noncommercial aircraft. Combining various types means that they all fly at the slower speed, reducing flows into an airport or on a route. Segregation could recapture capacity that is lost today by restricting speeds.
Manage total system performance by avoiding local decisions
Today’s system is a patchwork of individually managed sectors of airspace. Flow restrictions that make sense for a particular area can be detrimental to system performance elsewhere. Decision-makers must adopt a broader view, managing capacity at the national level.
Build a System that Enables Growth
Embrace a “building block” approach using a scalable, flexible architecture
Although conceptually appealing, the “big bang” approach is impractical for airspace system reform. A more realistic approach will develop and deploy modular technologies that yield immediate operational benefits while becoming the foundation for future advances.
Create incentives for performance and efficiency
Users should be motivated through incentives (operational, financial or otherwise) to embrace new technologies. The system should not exclude non-equippers, but their operations may not be optimized.
Capacity limitations must not constrain demand
The system must expand ahead of projected growth and accommodate all users. Artificial restrictions on the marketplace are unacceptable.
Minimize reliance on ground-based equipment
Satellite and aircraft-to-aircraft technologies (like ADS-B) offer dramatically more operational flexibility at a fraction of the cost of today’s system.
Create an airborne information-sharing network
The next generation of onboard communication, navigation and surveillance technologies will enable all aircraft to have total situational awareness, appreciably increasing safety on the ground and in the air. All aircraft could effectively be linked together to achieve this important enhancement, not unlike what the Internet did for individual PCs.
Learn from previous system design and implementation efforts
The transformation of the ATC system will establish capabilities that affect its users for decades. There are many lessons learned in design, construction and implementation from previous work in ATC system development. We need to learn from experience in order to develop a system that will serve passenger and shipper needs well into the 21st century.
Continued economic growth requires a healthy air transportation system. Without a dramatic change in the way our nation’s airspace is managed, congestion and resulting delays will be overwhelming for U.S. consumers and businesses. ATA and its member airlines are prepared to lead the way.
March 2006
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