Eurocontrol and FAA Prepare for Increased Air Traffic

Eurocontrol and FAA ATC are taking steps to increase air space capacity to reduce delays and accommodate future air traffic growth, U.S. DoT secretary Norman Mineta and Victor Aguado, director general of Eurocontrol, said here Tuesday.

"The Paris Air Show is the world's largest and most important display of aerospace innovation," Mineta said, providing the ideal forum to publicize ATC improvements being made by the two agencies. "Countries are increasingly linked by a global economy. Aviation provides the key link."

The need for improvements in the U.S. is vital because the U.S. ATC system accounts for 40% of the world's air traffic, according to Mineta. "Certainly in America, we are already straining," he said. System wide delays that occur if there's "even a small ripple" can cause disruptions because there is no reserve capacity. Mineta said that last year, more than 25 of all commercial flights were cancelled, diverted or delayed because of lack of capacity.

When asked why there had been few, if any, substantive changes in the U.S. ATC structure in the past decade, Mineta replied that he "totally disagreed" with the assertion. "We didn't get from 300 million passengers per year ten years ago to 670 million today without building capacity.

"The technology has been brought along continuously," Mineta said. He expects FAA ATC to have enough capacity to accommodate one billion passengers by 2010.

But, no new airports have been built in 25 years, Mineta said, creating challenges beyond the control of DoT. "It even takes seven to nine years to build a new runway," he explained. Very little time is required to actually build the runway. Mostly, it's a matter of overcoming objections from not-in-my-back-yard airport neighbors, fighting lawsuits and preparing state and federal environment impact reports.

"Denver International isn't a new airport. It's just a replacement for the old one," Mineta said, referring to the closure of close-in Stapleton International.

Europe accounts for another 30% of worldwide air traffic, according to Aguado. As a result, Eurocontrol has been implementing new technologies to increase capacity. Enhanced flow control management at Maastricht has increased capacity by 20 to 30%. Reduced Vertical Separation Minima over Europe potentially can boost capacity by another 15 to 20%. And the Basic Area Navigation mandate enables high altitude aircraft to be cleared directly to destination airport feeder fixes.

FAA, though, is taking a more measured approach, negotiating changes with all stakeholders, especially the airlines. When the airlines, among other airspace users, provide FAA with a clear view of their needs and willingness to invest in new technologies, FAA will live up to its end of the bargain by installing new ground equipment, FAA insiders say.