US: FAA urged to focus NextGen air-traffic project on New York skies

The new head of a panel advising the govt on modernising air-traffic control is calling on the US to take on one of the most difficult political and technical challenges: the crowded skies around New York. Seventy-eight percent of airline delays start in the region and efforts to improve the aviation system need to start there, FedEx COO David Bronczek Wednesday. “It’s time to be bold and aggressive”. Efforts to use NextGen’s global-positioning technology and other tools to create more precise flight paths have run into opposition from New York politicians concerned about aircraft noise, while also generating technical challenges due to the proximity of the area’s 3 major airports. Some airlines advocated shifting the FAA project to a non-profit corporation in a Feb 9 meeting with president Trump. <br/>