Monthly Archives: February 2009
White house budget framework has $800m for NextGen, hints at user fees
from Aviation Week: The [Obama administration] budget framework mentions $800 million for the NextGen air traffic modernization effort, although it did not detail which programs this would cover or how much of an increase it represents. The administration also dropped … Continue reading
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Wired on MITRE & the NYC airspace redesign
Wired Magazine went behind the scenes at MITRE as part of a lengthy look at the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia airspace redesign project. The tone is neutral leaning towards boosterish, though at least one dissenting NATCA voice was included. A brief … Continue reading
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EXCLUSIVE: Bruce Holmes on the end of DayJet and the future of commercial aviation
If you’ve heard of DayJet Corporation, the JPDO, NASA’s Langley Research Center, or the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, then you know a little something about the career trajectory of Bruce Holmes. Over a 30-year period, Holmes … Continue reading
A closer look at H.R. 915
Here some salient details about the reauthorization legislation submitted as H.R. 915. It’s worth looking at the legislative text in detail; the sections pertinent to NextGen can be found here. Funding Levels The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009 provides the … Continue reading
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Unmanned Aircraft Systems get boost in North Dakota
From the Grand Forks (ND) Herald: Opening more North Dakota airspace to unmanned aircraft will now be a priority for the Federal Aviation Administration, one of the agency’s top officials said Monday in Grand Forks. By summer 2010, the agency … Continue reading
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New stab at reauthorization includes $13.5b for NextGen
Aviation Week has a look at the legislation and testimony that came out of the House Aviation Subcommittee last week on reauthorization: While Congress was unable to move the bill forward last year – leaving FAA to operate under a … Continue reading
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Given capacity cuts, why is on-time performance not improving?
From Travel Weekly: With fewer people flying aboard fewer planes, industry mavens could not agree on why most airlines’ on-time percentages have failed to improve significantly. Major airlines as a group reported an improvement in on-time arrivals of 2.6 percentage … Continue reading
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Skies darken for short-term NextGen boost
from NextGov: Senate aviation leaders from both parties are each proposing to add more than half a billion dollars to the economic stimulus bill to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system. But, echoing a larger disagreement between the parties … Continue reading
Babbitt’s star rising quickly: WSJ
Wall Street Journal travel columnist Andy Paztor had this to say about Randy Babbitt: Randy Babbitt, an aviation consultant and former head of the country’s largest union representing airline pilots, is being vetted by the White House as the next … Continue reading
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LaHood creates team to coordinate stimulus spending
DOT press release: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that he has created a team at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to coordinate the Department’s role in President Obama’s economic recovery program. The team will ensure that economic … Continue reading
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Washington Post: Unnamed source says Randy Babbitt candidate for top FAA job
It’s not exactly exemplary reporting, but someone told the Washington Post’s Sholnn Freeman that Randy Babbitt’s name has been added to the list of hopefuls under consideration for FAA Administrator. A source familiar with the search process said new names … Continue reading
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LaHood emphasizes roads, transparency, no earmarks, oh, and NextGen too
DOT Secretary Ray LaHood spoke to the AP and other media in Peoria this week, and talked a little of this, a little of that. LaHood said it is too soon to say which projects will be funded. But he … Continue reading
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FAA updates NextGen Implementation Plan; emphasis on avionics
There’s a new plan in town, and it comes from the FAA. The current update to the NextGen Implementation Plan (summary here; full doc available here) outlines the agency’s implementation commitments for the next five years, locks in a set … Continue reading
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