DOT strives to reduce flight delays in Houston
Improvements part of NextGen efficiency effort
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced air-traffic control improvements in Houston aimed at reducing delays, making flights more efficient and reducing fuel consumption and pollution.
The improvements are part of a 20-year Federal Aviation Administration program called NextGen, which will ultimately guide planes more precisely by satellite GPS rather than groundbased radar.
Steps along the way include changing flight paths and landing patterns to shave 648,000 miles off Houston flights each year while saving $9.2 million in fuel and reducing carbon emissions as much as 31,000 tons a year, according to the FAA.
“Since the start of the space program, Houston has always been a city with an eye on the future, a tradition that continues with the start of our NextGen program,” Foxx said Wednesday.
The Houston project is intended to demonstrate NextGen’s benefits to airlines, though auditors have warned that the program is going slower and costing more than expected. United and Southwest Airlines cooperated on the Houston changes with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and the FAA.
“This is a collaborative effort to use NextGen satellite-based technology to turn some of the most complex airspace in the country into some of the most efficient,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said.
A 2012 GAO study found half of 30 NextGen projects experienced delays, and 11 of them cost a combined $4.2 billion more than initial estimates.
To speed things up, the Obama administration designated the Houston aviation project one of 14 construction projects nationwide for expedited attention to streamline environmental and other regulatory reviews. The designation enabled the project, launched in January 2012, to be completed six months early.
“This redesigned airspace allows us to take full advantage of technology we already have on our aircraft, while simultaneously reducing fuel burn and emissions,” said Jim Compton, vice chairman for United Airlines.
The project spans Bush Intercontinental, Hobby, Hooks Memorial and Sugar Land Regional airports, which had a combined 1,700 flights a day last year. Changes include:
Smoother descents at Bush and Hobby that allow pilots to nearly idle the engines, which the FAA compares with “sliding down a banister,” rather than the current stair-steps that require leveling off at certain heights to coordinate with controllers.
Shorter routes between Houston and Dallas, shaving miles off the busy corridor.
Side- by-side landings at parallel runways at Bush to provide more direct routing.
Satellite- based departures that allow planes to climb to cruising altitude sooner.
Chuck Magill, Southwest’s vice president of operational coordination, said the airline looks forward to examining data about the advantages of redesigning the Houston airspace.
“Houston is the latest in a series of successes, thanks to a strong collaboration between all stakeholders,” said Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.