While “change” has been a slightly over-used phrase this year, FAA Acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell last week stuck with that theme in walking attendees of the Air Traffic Control Association’s annual conference through a couple of key FAA procurement programs, which have undergone the most significant transformations over the past couple of years.
He said the FAA changed the management of over-the-ocean traffic with the completion of ATOP. “While perhaps little-noticed, ATOP is allowing us to safely reduce separation standards and deliver more fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly tracks and altitudes,” he stated.
“But this is only the beginning. As our AIRE and ASPIRE demos show, this tool provides a solid base for collaboration and further improvements in delivering both economic and environmental value. And, we’re evaluating expansion of ATOP to other parts of the Atlantic and Caribbean airspace,” Sturgell added.
This year will also mark the completion of the rollout of TMA to all 20 Air Route Traffic Control Centers. “Traffic Management Advisor has proven its value in not only metering arrivals to effectively fill the runways and manage delays in a fuel efficient way, but it’s also been extremely important in managing departures as well,” he said.
Continental Airlines has shown up to a four-minute decrease in flight times entering into Newark during metering. The FAA expects to begin metering to LaGuardia in the middle of January, followed by JFK in April.
“Over the next few years, we’ll tailor TMA to better support even busier airports, and to strategically support the use of RNP and RNAV. To date, 130 RNP procedures have been developed at 45 airports, with 250 RNAV procedures at 86 airports,” he said.
Sturgell said ERAM is on budget and on schedule. “Early next year it’s going to come online, marking a major upgrade to our enroute flight and surveillance data automation system. It’ll serve as the cross-cutting fundamental NextGen building block for terminal, enroute and strategic flow. Looking ahead, future releases of ERAM will be designed to support a range of NextGen capabilities, including Trajectory Based Operations,” he added.