The better to see you with – here comes NextGen

As delays soar, and fliers simmer, there may be some relief just over the horizon. The Federal Aviation Administration has selected a company to provide the keystone technology for the agency’s vaunted Next Generation Air Transportation System - NextGen for those of you collecting acronyms. ITT Corporation is the winner, and the company will be required to have the technology ready by 2010, and able to cover the whole country by 2013.

Specifically, ITT is going to build a system called ADS-B, short for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast. It’s a satellite-based system that FAA contends, “is nearly ten times more accurate than [ground-bound] radar”. The idea is to tell controllers and pilots the precise location of aircraft. That, in turn, is supposed to translate into more direct flight routings, enhanced safety, and fewer delays.

Those final two items command attention.

FAA is fulsome in its adulation of ADS-B. “This signals a new era of air traffic control,” says Bobby Sturgell, FAA Deputy Administrator. “ADS-B — and, in turn, NextGen — will attack the delay problem head on by dramatically increasing air traffic efficiency.”

Most fliers, and the airline industry itself, say it’s time for some dramatic improvements. Delays have been particularly acute this past year, especially weather-induced delays. FAA is betting ADS-B could help ease the pain.

© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler