A report from the U.S. General Accountability Office shows the FAA has experienced “mixed progress” in its effort to modernize the air traffic management system.
Content Body
Since 2018, the FAA has experienced “mixed progress” in meeting milestones in its ongoing effort to modernize air traffic management, known as the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), according to a new report from the Goverment Accountability Office (GAO). “This mixed progress has slowed FAA's NextGen efforts...to improve the safety and efficiency of air travel and address growing congestion in the national airspace.”
For example, the GAO commends the FAA for beating its milestone date for deploying more reliable digital communication services at ATC towers. However, the agency did not deploy initial services to all 20 facilities serving en route flights by its September 2021 milestone. As of August, the FAA still has not completed the deployment of those services at eight en route facilities. But the GAO concedes that the “pandemic played a large part in missed milestones.”
The report also noted that the FAA did not meet its scheduled timeline to replace paper flight strips with electronic flight strips at 89 airports, and the first site didn’t become operational until October 2022—two years late. Revised timelines now schedule the final completion date in February 2030. Additionally, the FAA decreased the number of airports that are designated to receive the electronic flight strips from 89 to 49.
Recommendations to the FAA included: developing an updated life-cycle cost estimate, developing and documenting a risk mitigation plan, conducting root cause analyses on individual NextGen programs that exceed a specific threshold of cost, and including information in future NextGen performance and accountability reports to make clear which individual programs are awaiting or have received revised cost, schedule, and performance goals.
Since 2018, the FAA has experienced “mixed progress” meeting milestones in its ongoing effort to modernize air traffic management, known as the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), according to a new report from the General Accountability Office. “This mixed progress, has slowed FAA's NextGen efforts...to improve the safety and efficiency of air travel and address growing congestion in the national airspace.”
For example, the GAO commends the FAA for beating its milestone date for deploying more reliable digital communication services at ATC towers. However, the agency did not deploy initial services to all 20 facilities serving en-route flights by its September 2021 milestone. As of August, the FAA has still not completed the deployment of those services at eight en-route facilities. But the GAO concedes that the “pandemic played a large part in missed milestones.”
The report also noted that the FAA did not meet its scheduled timeline to replace paper flight strips with electronic flight strips at 89 airports, and the first site didn’t become operational until October 2022—two years late. Revised timelines now schedule the final completion date in February 2030. Additionally, the FAA decreased the number of airports designated to receive the electronic flight strips from 89 to 49.