Impasse in CNS Modernization: Policy and Technical Perspectives

Arthur A. Shantz

Abstract:	Technology and public policy are at an impasse in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) modernization programs. From a technical perspective, the major problems facing aviation today are system capacity and operating efficiency at very large hub airports. Major airlines need to increase the volume of aircraft operations at their hubs and improve their access to other large airline hubs in order to maintain their share of future growth. In order to do this, they will require shared procedures for conducting traffic management operations with the FAA, as well as with other major airlines. Related changes in terminal and en route procedures and operations will require new decision support systems for collaborative traffic management decision making. In order to achieve these changes within current budget constraints, the FAA delayed implementing the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The FAA explanation of these decisions concerned mitigating risks and expediting user benefits, although they were motivated by policy. In return for increasing hub operations, the major airlines will support the Administration’s efforts to create a Performance Based Organization (PBO) for air traffic services. This could put the agency in the middle of the future anti-trust disputes with major airlines.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1998) June 1 - 3, 1998 The Adams Mark Hotel Denver, CO
Pages:	65 - 73
Cite this article:	Shantz, Arthur A., "Impasse in CNS Modernization: Policy and Technical Perspectives," Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1998), Denver, CO, June 1998, pp. 65-73.
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