After more than 15 years and $200 million in development effort, the FAA in late January canceled further expenditures on the GPS Category I local-area augmentation system (LAAS), dropped its proposed 2006 initial introduction and reclassified the project as merely research and development. Separately, although perhaps not unrelated, the agency is expected soon to issue a request for bids to supply 150 Cat I ILSs for installation across the National Airspace System over the next three years.
The LAAS announcement came as no surprise to many FAA and industry officials. Since the late 1990s the agency has been attempting to develop a viable business plan for LAAS to prove its future necessity, but to no avail. Generally, while there were small pockets of support within the airline industry and elsewhere, most operators were unenthusiastic about the acquisition, certification and training costs of moving to a satellite-based Cat I precision approach aid that would provide no clear benefit over Cat I ILS, with which they are already equipped. For most large fleet operators, only Cat III could justify such an investment.
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