What Would New Air Traffic Control Technology Mean for New York City?

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Partnership for New York City's president, Kathryn Wylde, has a blog item on the Huffington Post today about NextGen, a series of air-transportation improvements the Federal Aviation Administration is rolling out.

One of these programs is an air traffic-control technology upgrade, something that hasn't happened, Ms. Wylde quips, since Dwight Eisenhower was president and Barack Obama was "still in diapers." But the F.A.A.'s plans for implementing NextGen, which "will replace old-fashioned air traffic control radar systems with a satellite-based technology similar to a car's GPS," thus alleviating congestion, are set to begin at "small, low-capacity airports." ("I'd suggest we probably should open off Broadway, if you would," F.A.A. Chief Randy Babbitt has said.)

What's this got to do with New York City? "Nowhere would investment in public infrastructure have a bigger or faster payback than in relief of congestion at the big international airports serving the New York metropolitan region," Ms. Wylde writes, arguing that the tristate's airports should get priority:

[O]ur three big airports are the source of most air traffic congestion in the entire country. This congestion costs billions of dollars a year in lost travel time, staffing costs, and excess fuel consumption. Earlier this year the Partnership for New York City found that air traffic congestion costs the New York Metro region $2.6 billion annually. These losses are felt across the board by travelers ($1.7 billion), airlines ($834 million), and shipping companies ($136 million). But it is not just the New York Metro region that takes a hit. Because three-quarters of American flight delays originate in the New York area, these delays - and costs - cascade across the continent.

So far, the program has been stalled because of the cost it would take to install NextGen technology nationwide—as much as $20 billion each for updating air-traffic-control operations and providing new equipment and training. And some estimates say the project won't be completed until 2025, which means New York City faces another 15 years of potentially clogged skies.

Until then, you can learn more about NextGen here.