There are signs that Washington has acquired a sense of urgency (long past due, some would say) about the disarray that has thus far stalled progress on ATC modernization. Last month’s appointment of former FAA ATO v-p of operations planning Vicki Cox to the new position of senior v-p for NextGen and operations planning raised some questions about the agency’s desire to be more involved in planning the future airspace system. The addition of command responsibility for NextGen puts Cox in charge of the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), an independent government/industry body established with the specific goal of having an arms-length relationship with the FAA and several other government agencies involved in future airspace planning and technology applications.
In announcing the new position, acting FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell said, “Given the aviation community’s increasing need for faster modernization of our air traffic control system, the time is now to transition to faster implementation of NextGen.” He added, “The FAA is putting an emphasis on near- and mid-term implementation, while the JPDO continues its focus on long-term R&D and cross-agency cooperation.”
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