A new report by the US government accountability office (GAO) is critical of the US FAA for not yet having a strategy in place to convince airlines of the benefits of equipping aircraft with avionics and equipment to support the next generation air transportation system (NextGen). "Two key decisions are whether all aircraft need to be equipped at all locations and when aircraft should be equipped with various technologies," writes the GAO in a new report titled "Integration of current implementation efforts with long-term planning for the next generation air transportation system."
The report, largely a compilation of earlier testimony and reports from other government agencies and compiled at the request of House aviation subcommittee leaders, highlights the FAA's efforts to define NextGen capabilities, its specific performance goals and metrics and plans to make a business case for equipage with the airlines.
The agency has earlier said it will use a "best-equipped, best served" process that will allow those who equip to take advantage of efficiency or time-boosting air routing options.
A rule is already in place requiring aircraft to equip with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast "out" (ADS-B out) systems by 2020, a surveillance technology that will allow the FAA to cut its secondary surveillance radar infrastructure. However, key benefits of NextGen can only be gained with ADS-B "in" systems that bring air traffic and other data into each aircraft, a benefit the FAA considers powerful enough that operators will want to equip on their own outside of a rulemaking.
GAO says that although the FAA has established a working group to explore the best-equipped, best-served paradigm, the agency "has yet to make any specific decisions about how it will put its best-equipped, best-served policy into practice".
"In our past work, we have emphasized that FAA must align aircraft-equipping rules and incentives in a way that minimizes the government's costs and maximizes the overall benefits of NextGen," the GAO says.
"We also have previously reported that, in some cases, the federal government may deem financial or other incentives desirable to speed the deployment of new equipment, and that the decision to offer incentives will depend on the technology and its potential to provide an adequate and timely return on public and private investment."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
