A September ICAO NextGen/Sesar Forum in Montreal underscored the fact that the U.S. and Europe are following different paths to a future air traffic management system. Officials managing the FAA’s NextGen and Europe’s Sesar–for Single European Sky ATM Research–agree that by 2025 traffic is expected to double, and maybe even triple, and that today’s control systems will not be able to handle the increase. There is also broad consensus that a satellite- and performance-based environment will be the way of the future. But the way that the two organizations are going about their business is quite different.
The old political saw of “follow the money” applies While NextGen’s shape and direction have been determined through consultation with industry and various government bodies–including non-aviation entities such as the Department of Homeland Security–it is ultimately an FAA program, with its progress depending almost entirely on the will of Congress and its appropriations committees. And while legislators have so far been positive about the need to renew the nation’s ATC system, occasionally citing the future promise of satellites, 4-D trajectories and similar marvels, the political crunch can be expected to come when the current plans start to collide with possible future realities of, say, consolidating today’s nationwide 20 ARTCCs into one or two, or introducing rules that politically influential parts of the aviation community strongly oppose.
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