The multi-billion-dollar program intended to revolutionize air travel in the United States is
“stalled,” “broken” and not going to materialize “any time soon,” three
frustrated members of Congress said at a hearing Tuesday.
At a
cost of an estimated $40 billion to be shared by the government and the
airline industry, the creation of a system known as NextGen has been
entrusted to the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency renowned for
its cautious and methodical implementation of change.
“It’s just
apparent that the process is broken,” said Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), House
Transportation Committee chairman. The FAA is “moving at a snail’s pace.
We’ve got to get these things up and running.”
NextGen, or Next
Generation Air Transportation System, is a vast interlocking array of
technology that promises to reduce delays, fuel use and carbon
footprints, while allowing for projected growth in the airline industry.
The FAA, which said it would launch NextGen a decade ago, was not invited to testify before the committee Tuesday.
A
committee spokesman said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta would be
asked to appear before the panel as it continues to explore a new
funding authorization for the agency.
Judging from the
frustration expressed by committee members Tuesday, Huerta can expect
what will be a rocky day. Rep. Mark Meadows (R.-N.C.) recalled an
earlier visit by Huerta and his deputies. “When we ask for deadlines,
when we ask for time frames, I see sweat pop out on their foreheads.
There’s not an answer,” Meadows said.
Setting deadlines, meeting
goals and persuading the airlines that both will be achieved is critical
to the success of NextGen. While airlines began to invest in some of
the equipment the system requires, fear that the FAA will falter has
made them cautious of heavy spending.
“Business leaders are
concerned about the slow and uncertain pace of FAA efforts,” said John
Engler, the former Michigan governor who now heads the Business
Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S.
companies.
While Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots
Association, said that NextGen was “on the verge of becoming a success
story,” few members of the committee were prepared to embrace that
belief.
“I think NextGen is either in a stall or a reverse.
That’s not acceptable,” said Rep. John L. Mica (R.-Fla.), the former
chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Mica said he
stepped down with “a sigh of relief” that no major domestic airline
accident had occurred during his tenure as chairman. Alluding to the
safety enhancements promised by NextGen, he said, “The clock is ticking.
It can be an air traffic controller, it can be a pilot error.”
The
challenge of replacing a 20th-century radar-based system with a
technologically efficient GPS-based system was described as out of reach
by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), a non-voting member of
Congress.
“We’re not going to do that anytime soon,” said Norton,
who reacted to repeated reminders from those testifying that the United
States has the safest aviation system in the world.
“I believe
we have a safe system because you slow things down to make it safe,” she
said. “That 2020 date [for partial implementation of NextGen] that was
set some time ago is a fiction. It’s better to have that sort of candor
than to have people being angry at the airport. Be candid so that the
public does not expect anything but slow-downs for the foreseeable
future.”
NextGen has been described as the antidote to gridlock
in the air travel system, which is projected to be serving 1 billion
passengers a year by 2021.
With the help of GPS, planes would be
able to safely travel packed skies closer to other planes. They would be
able to fly direct routes, unlike in the current system, which relies
heavily on flying to waypoints before turning to a final destination.
Direct
routing would allow airlines to save billions in fuel costs and
minimize pollution. It also would permit far more precise choreography
of planes at airports, reducing the amount of fuel wasted waiting for
takeoff or burned because planes ready to land are diverted into holding
patterns.
For passengers, NextGen would cut flight delays,
eliminate time spent on the runway waiting to take off and shorten the
flight time once airborne. In addition, fuel savings might result in
lower ticket prices.
- Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com
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