Policy Components of the Next Generation Air Transportation System

By Charles Leader
Joint Planning and Development Office

In July of 2007 the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that 32 percent of all passenger flights in the United States were delayed.  This illustrates a serious and continuing matter of national concern.  If our air transportation system cannot meet future demands and cannot accommodate changing aviation business models, then we can expect a substantial cost to the United States and its foreign business partners in terms of the number of delays, flight cancellations and lost business opportunities.

That, in a nutshell, is the challenge behind the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).  Namely, to transform a national airspace system that is limited in its capacity and flexibility into one that is scalable and dynamic.

Security is also a major concern.  While protecting our nation’s air transportation system is an essential priority, the challenge--and this is an important part of NextGen--is creating a system that is more passenger friendly.  Adaptive, layered security, an approach that goes beyond the classic paradigm of airport passenger screening, has the potential of reducing the time and inconvenience passengers face as they go through airport security.

In 2003 the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) began work on the planning and implementation of NextGen.  NextGen addresses every aspect of the future transformation of the nation’s air transportation system. 

JPDO, however, is more than a traditional government initiative.  It represents a unique partnership between several different government agencies.  These include the Departments of Transportation, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  Even more unique is that the JPDO has a substantial industry involvement.  Through the NextGen Institute, industry representatives not only participate in the NextGen Working Groups, they also serve as co-leads in each major subject area.  NBTA was recently reappointed to a Board seat on the NextGen Institute Management Council. This kind of collaboration with the private sector in such a broad-based initiative is almost unprecedented.

While many in the aviation sector see the NextGen initiative as dealing almost exclusively with research and investment in new systems and equipment, there are also major policy issues. These are issues that need to be addressed at every stage of the initiative’s development.

A good illustration of just what role policy and policy analysis play in the development of NextGen can be found in a recent analysis of the NextGen Concept of Operations (ConOps).  The ConOps is one of three foundational planning documents for NextGen and details how the initiative will work.  According to the analysis, the ConOps raised 90 separate NextGen related policy questions that need to be addressed during the implementation of NextGen.   This included issues related to budget prioritization, security, research, planning, investment, modeling, environmental issues, global harmonization, liability, and aircraft equipage, to name a few.

The major policy issues of NextGen are being addressed by the JPDO and are a matter of serious concern to the JPDO’s Senior Policy Committee (SPC).   The SPC, which is the highest level in the JPDO’s governance structure, is chaired by the Secretary of Transportation and includes senior representatives from each of NextGen’s partner departments and agencies.  In 2008, the SPC identified three multi-agency policy initiatives that they considered high priority concerns for the coming year.      

1. Information Sharing
Information sharing refers to the sharing of data and information, in aviation environment, in real time.  It is one of the critical capabilities in NextGen’s development. Examples of the type of information involved include aircraft position, weather conditions and predictions, facility availability, and security.  However, implementing this capability requires address several major policy areas.  To facilitate this work the JPDO created the Net Centric Operations Working Group.  This body will develop a National Information Sharing Strategy, identify what information is needed to enable NextGen capabilities, and then address the roles and responsibilities of the respective users and providers.

2. Safety
The second SPC policy focus area deals with safety.  The challenge is to guarantee continued safe operations in the National Airspace System even in the face of a significant expansion in capacity.  That’s the mission of the JPDO’s Safety Working Group.  The Working Group is developing a safety strategic plan that will address how enhanced safety data analysis can identify and resolve safety threats before accidents occur.   One of the challenges in this undertaking is increasing the level of government and private sector engagement.  This is essential if this new approach to assuring safer operations in aviation operations can reach its potential. 

3. Weather
Weather is the third major policy concern for the SPC.   Weather is a critical focus for NextGen, and the objective is to provide a common weather picture that will enable air traffic managers and aircraft operators to identify and use acceptable weather airspace with greater reliability.  However, this raises a number of policy concerns.   For example, it’s going to be necessary to clarify roles and responsibilities of those who currently produce and provide weather information.  These policy issues are now being addressed by an interagency team.

Developing policy is not a fixed and easily defined process.  It never has been.  Rather it is a continuous process of analysis, defining alternatives and working with stakeholders, including NBTA, to develop a consensus.  The objective is to make good policy choices that will help produce the NextGen benefits to help make our National Airspace System safer, more efficient and flexible. 

Charles Leader is the Director of the Joint Planning and Development Office, appointed on August of 2006, by the FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey.  During the past fifteen years, Mr. Leader has held CEO and general management positions in several corporations, including Hughes Aircraft.  He was a partner at McKinsey & Co. and co-leader of their Aerospace/Defense practice.  Mr. Leader’s experience includes working in technology development, systems integration, and the realignment of large and complex organizations. Mr. Leader, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the Harvard Business School. 

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