A new study by NASA's Langley Research Center, in
consultation with the FAA and Virginia Tech, makes the case there's an ROI for
the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) concept. Stuart Cooke, NASA's
Lead for Transportation Systems Analysis and Assessment for SATS, says small,
advanced technology aircraft flying point-to-point could account for 1.6% of an
anticipated 25 million trips in the year 2025. The analysis also shows that air
taxi providers could keep as much as 20% of that revenue in profit, with
per-seat-mile costs running between $1.50 and $2.75.
NASA and its industry partners demonstrated a variety of
SATS technologies in Danville, Va., in June, a last hurrah as the five-year
program came to a close. With no government funding on the horizon, NASA is
looking to its industry partners to keep the program alive.
In Danville, the SATS team demonstrated the four pillars of
the program— high-volume operations; lower landing minimums, single-pilot
operations, and enhanced airspace utilization. Cooke says his analysis shows
that by using SATS technologies to allow single-pilot operations, operators
would be able to reduce ticket prices by 20%. With high-volume operations
technologies, the FAA could increase capacity by 400% at non-towered airports
during IFR operations; and with lowered landing minima technologies, demand for
point-to-point SATS travel could be increased by 25%.
