Aircraft

A new non-profit group seeking to deliver the economic and environmental benefits of a revolutionised air transport system in the USA will aim to help accelerate implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).

Referring to the initiative by the Alliance for Sustainable Air Transportation (ASAT), Traver Gruen-Kennedy, head of strategic operations at per-seat on-demand jet taxi operator DayJet, told a sustainable aviation briefing at Farnborough: "With 80% of US air traffic concentrated at only 35 airports, and with 740 million gallons of jet fuel wasted in 2007 due to flight delays in the USA alone, we cannot afford to wait."

NextGen, which aims to avoid system gridlock, is a complex nationwide plan that will focus on aircraft operations, airports owned and operated by local authorities, and airspace operated by both the Federal Aviation Administration and the US Department of Defense.

Massachusetts-based ASAT's strategy is to support the implementation of NextGen regionally, locally, and in stages, through prototypes that favour the greatest benefits in the shortest time.

"It is essentially about bringing together all the organisations and people who will make NextGen a reality. While the FAA and JPOD helped establish the alliance, the private sector has an important role in advancing NextGen. It's not going to happen if it's left to the Federal Aviation Administration, which with the best will in the world can drive the policy, but not necessarily the implementation," says Gruen-Kennedy.

Membership at this point is limited to the US aviation industry, although it will co-ordinate with organisations in the UK that are pioneering sustainable activities. "It's not about theory at this point, this is about getting out there and getting it done," says Gruen-Kennedy.

ASAT will initially focus on two projects. First is Dayjet's bid to take a leading role in accelerating the FAA's introduction of next-generation command, navigation and surveillance technologies into the national airspace system.

The second project will focus on applying ADS-B technologies in the Los Angeles Basin in an effort to improve the management of the helicopter operations community based there.

Future projects will feature work on alternative fuels and best design and operational practice at US airports.