The 10-year plan, scheduled to be outlined by senior FAA officials on Tuesday, comes as the agency faces pressure from Congress and elsewhere to improve its capabilities and become more accountable, streamlined and innovative in an era of unprecedented demand and congestion. The initiative also answers calls to privatize U.S. air traffic services, an option the Bush administration has promised to study. The agency will invest heavily in technology to boost system capacity so it can safely and efficiently handle the more than 1 billion passengers expected to fly on U.S. airlines by early next decade. FAA sources stressed that the plan was not final and that costs associated with its development were not fixed.
Estimates vary, depending on the options that eventually move forward.
A cornerstone of the government's vision is to move gradually toward a satellite navigation system, which largely would replace the ground-based radar operations of today and increase capacity. Boeing Co. is expected to announce as early as Wednesday its plans for such a system. A third focus is to improve weather information to give controllers, airline dispatchers and pilots longer-range forecasts, especially on thunderstorms. Weather accounts for most flight delays, and the agency and industry are working closer than ever to assess and negotiate its impact on the flight system on a daily basis. The FAA also plans to continue its modernization of air traffic equipment, including the software and advanced computer systems used by controllers at the agency's flight control centers around the country.