The Competition: Where Do You Stand?

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Reading government documents isn’t very much fun sometimes, but it often reveals informative tidbits that pose provocative questions such as the headline of this post. Below is the inspiration for that headline, found on page 43 of the FAA’s NextGen Implementation Plan of March 2011.

The Air Transport estimates are based on coordination with operators, meaning the FAA compared the various systems it has approved and did the math with the total number of operating certificates it’s issued. The GA numbers were derived from the annual FAA general aviation and air taxi survey.

The good news is that air transport is way ahead of GA in preparing for NextGen. The bad news is that air transport operators rarely compete head-to-head with GA. They fight it out with other operators like them. So, looking at the list, where do you stand? Are you well on your way or still thinking about a course of action?

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that, with the ADS-B Out requirement in 2020, that you have a lot of time. Nearly all of the NextGen components,—PBN/RNP, ADS-B, and Data Link Communication—are up and running in various parts of the nation. Like rocks of technology strategically dropped into the airspace pool, their rings of operational readiness are growing ever larger. Most air transport airports will be data-com capable by 2015, and by 2018 the FAA estimates their cumulative operational savings at $23 billion.

Those savings are and will be reaped by operators whose numbers derive the table’s percentages. This truth will grow even more sharper in the near future as the FAA acts on is promise to serve first those best equipped for NextGen. Everyone else will have to take a number, which is just one line item on the total price of procrastination, which increases rapidly with the mandatory equipage requirements.

Integrating NextGen avionics into a fleet doesn’t happen over night. Southwest Airlines invested four years in getting the majority of its 737 fleet equipped for RNP operations and Jet Blue invested two years in getting its fleet equipped with ADS-B. And they were working with newer aircraft, which make the integration of new capabilities easier, quicker, and less expensive.

NextGen is all about technology that makes air transport quick, efficient, and economical without sacrificing customer convenience. Still, only one airplane at a time can occupy an airport’s operational runways. As an integrator of NextGen avionics in transport category aircraft, ASIG faces similar constraints, so remember, in nearly all endeavors, the spoils of life usually go to prompt planners who act.

Until next time, stay 5x5, mission ready, and Wired!