The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the FAA is close to three years behind in the deployment of its Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) program, costs have increased by 20%, and airspace users may not realize benefits until at least next year.
TFDM is a key NextGen system designed to improve airport surface operations and air traffic control (ATC) efficiencies. These technologies have become a priority for the agency, particularly in light of the spate of high-profile close calls in recent years. The system is designed to integrate flight, surveillance, and traffic management information. TFDM also will automate manual flight data processes, including upgrading from paper flight strips used by controllers to track a flight’s progress to electronic flight strips and improve surface traffic flow management.
The FAA is currently testing and implementing TFDM capabilities at certain airports, such as introducing electronic flight strips and surface management tools. Even so, it is still behind schedule, with initial deployment pushed back from January 2020 to October 2022 and completion now anticipated in February 2030 instead of September 2028.
Further, the $155 million increased cost—from $795 million to $950 million—caused the FAA to reduce the deployment sites from 89 to 49, “increasing the estimated cost per site while decreasing planned system consolidations and functionality,” the DOT OIG said.
While the FAA has maintained the large deployment sites, which are estimated to provide more than 90% of the originally anticipated benefits, the agency has concerns that funding uncertainty could result in a further reduction of sites.
The DOT OIG believes it will be at least 2025 before airspace users realize benefits such as fuel and carbon emissions savings from reduced taxi times and delays and worries that the FAA faces implementation risks such as system integration, airline participation, cybersecurity requirements, and ATC human factors and training.
“As a result of the deployment delays and implementation risks, it is uncertain when TFDM will provide full benefits for airspace users,” the DOT OIG said. “Additionally, the budget and schedule may change further, especially as FAA deploys TFDM to more complex sites. We are making recommendations to improve FAA’s TFDM program.”
The DOT OIG recommended that the FAA assess a cost-saving move to remove a data comm requirement for two-way interface between TFDM and Tower Data Link Services, evaluate human factors issues involved, and assess improvements in training.