The prospect of instituting near-term ATC improvements as industry waits for the arrival of NextGen in the 2020s seems now to have been delayed for at least another year, and probably longer, by the possibility of political change after November’s presidential election. The near-term initiatives, collectively known as NowGen, proposed accelerating FAA plans and taking advantage of unused capabilities of currently installed ground equipment, to improve capacity and reduce delays.
But these improvements, which require little or no capital investment, have been essentially set aside by political considerations. First, due to ongoing concerns about FAA practices and expenditures, Congress has yet to approve the agency’s FY2008 budget appropriations–which it would normally have done late last summer–forcing the agency to operate this year within the limits of its FY2007 allocations, under periodically renewed “continuing resolutions” in Congress. As a result, the agency has been forced to forego new programs and, in some cases, reduce operations.
More In ATC
