US: No price tag, end date for FAA's ATC plan

The FAA has little to show for a decade of work on modernizing air traffic control, and faces barriers and billions more in spending to realize its full benefits, says a report released Tuesday by a government watchdog. The FAA estimates it will spend a total $5.7b to finish its current work on six "transformational" technology programs at the heart of its NextGen modernization effort, said the report by the DoT's inspector general. But the agency's current efforts don't fully implement the programs, and there are no timetables or cost estimates for completion. The FAA has sold the six transformational programs to Congress and the public "as core efforts that would fundamentally change the way the agency would manage air traffic, communicate with pilots, and exchange data with airspace users," Matthew Hampton, assistant inspector general for aviation, said in the report. "However, our review has found that, at least until 2020, most of the transformational programs will not transform how air traffic is managed." Moreover, there has been "significant ambiguity both within FAA and the aviation community about expectations for NextGen," including the ability of core programs to deliver important new capabilities, the report said. Congress has provided $7.4b for NextGen overall, not just the core programs, since 2003, according to the inspector general.<br/>