Firms see money in upgrade of US air control system
nside the control tower at John F Kennedy International Airport, air traffic controllers can track planes travelling hundreds of miles away.
But when it’s time for a controller to hand off responsibility for watching a flight, the technology becomes decidedly last century: Details are printed on a slip of paper and passed to a co-worker.
President Donald Trump promised on Monday to sweep away such outmoded systems and replace them with “the best, newest and safest technology available.”
Trump’s solution is to split air traffic control away from the Federal Aviation Administration and privatise it under a not-for-profit, independent corporation.
Billions of dollars in government and private contracts ride on the conversion of the nation’s air traffic control system to satellite-based GPS.
A federal modernisation programme known as NextGen has already targeted traditional ground-based radar and other aging technologies for replacement.
Still, the United States lags well behind other countries including Canada, Ireland and Denmark, whose satellite-based GPS systems are slated to go live next year.
Private-sector companies angling for a piece of this business see wide commercial potential for products unleashed by the US modernization effort, including digital cockpit messaging, live monitoring of aircraft engines and systems, advanced weather maps and faster Internet service for passengers.
“It’s a big Nieuwsma, a deal for us,” said David Senior Vice President in charge of such systems at Rockwell Collins Inc. “We know it’s the future,” he added.
Congress gave the FAA $7.4 billion between 2004 and 2016 to develop and install NextGen systems.
The aim was to boost the capacity of the US aviation system to handle more planes, cut flight delays and improve safety, according to a Government Accountability Office report published in November.
Airlines support NextGen and are expected to spend $15 billion upgrading their fleets to prepare for the new systems.
But industry players have grown frustrated as the FAA missed implementation deadlines.
The agency now estimates NextGen will cost another $14.8 billion to complete, with many major upgrades not due to be functional until 2025, the GAO said.
Proponents say privatisation will speed NextGen by freeing it from FAA bureaucracy.
Modelled after Canada’s widely praised 1996 privatisation, which created an entity known as Nav Canada, the US plan has the backing of most US airlines as well as qualified support from the controllers union.
Critics, including Delta Air Lines, the National Business Aviation Association and an organisation of FAA safety inspectors and technicians, say Congress should instead enact a law to stabilize FAA’s NextGen funding, which is controlled by Congress.
“Privatizing the largest and most complex aviation system in the world is a risky and unnecessary step at this pivotal point in its modernisation,” said Mike Perrone, head of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a union of 11,000 FAA safety employees, after Trump’s announcement. “This would slow down enhancements and possibly compromise safety to fix a system that’s not broken.”
Central to the modernisation effort are global positioning satellites that can track planes more accurately than radar, enabling controllers to reduce the distance between aircraft during flight.
That allows more takeoffs and landings, which is essential to meet rising global demand for air travel.
That’s creating opportunities for a host of US firms.
McLean, Virginia-based Iridium Communications owns a network of satellites for voice and data transmission.
Through a joint venture known as Aireon, it has partnered with Nav Canada and several other air traffic control organisations to roll out a global satellite air navigation system planned to go into operation next year.
Aireon recently began tests with the FAA on eight satellites Iridium launched in January. air traffic