When Boeing unveiled its air traffic management (ATM) plan last June, it presented a future world of advanced communication, navigation and surveillance technologies that would modernize today’s ATC system, greatly increase capacity and significantly reduce delays. But at Singapore’s Asian Aerospace exhibition in February, Boeing had clearly changed course by embarking on a major analysis effort to learn what the aviation industry really wanted in a future system. There was little mention of the high-tech concepts that had been the focus of Boeing’s earlier announcement.
It seems that Boeing took a step backward to determine the most basic issues, such as what system performance requirements are considered essential by various aviation industry stakeholders, and what measurement criteria–or metrics–should be applied to each to ensure that standards will be maintained. Clearly, Boeing now believes it is essential to establish these baselines before moving forward to a total ATC system redesign.
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