Rep. Petri at NextGen Hearing

A Congressional hearing on Wednesday, October 5 examined the costs, benefits, progress and management of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) NextGen air traffic control modernization program.

Wednesday's hearing, chaired by U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), focused on the FAA's progress in delivering measureable benefits to aviation users, as well as the agency's projections for future benefits to be gained from federal and industry investment. The FAA has promised efficiency gains through NextGen by optimizing air traffic controller performance, consolidating obsolete facilities, enhanced safety improvements, and improved operational efficiency of the national airspace system. For example, the FAA estimates that with NextGen aviation users will save 1.4 billion gallons of fuel and see a 14 million ton reduction in carbon emissions through 2018. However, the airspace users who will be asked to invest in expensive NextGen compatible avionics must have confidence in FAA's ability to manage the program and deliver the benefits.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Federal
• Aviation
• Administration
• NextGen
• Tom
• Petri
• Air
• Traffic
• Control
• Modernization
• Program