National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President and\nCEO Ed Bolen told members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science &\nTransportation\u2019s Subcommittee on Aviation and Space this week that full\nimplementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is\ncritical to maintaining America\u2019s lead in global aviation \u2013 a shared priority\nfor all stakeholders, including business aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe United States has the world\u2019s largest, safest, most\nefficient and most diverse aviation system, supporting more than 200,000\ngeneral aviation aircraft,\u201d said Bolen. \u201cHowever, to maintain our leadership,\nwe must continually modernize the ATC [air traffic control] system. This\nimperative to modernize is why NBAA has taken a leadership role in partnering\nwith the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] to advance our shared\nmodernization goals. With more than 1.1 million jobs and $219 billion in annual\neconomic impact tied to general aviation, our industry is committed to growing\nand moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Business aviation serves small towns and rural communities\nacross the country, and can reach more than 5,000 public-use airports, Bolen\nexplained. NBAA is a key stakeholder in the ATC system, and with its 11,000\nmember companies delivers a unique perspective on NextGen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NextGen modernization is producing significant results,\nalready delivering $4.7 billion in benefits to the aviation system, Bolen\nnoted. But, with air traffic controllers projected to handle nearly 16 million\nmore aircraft by 2040, and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) capacity forecast to\ngrow significantly in the next five years, Bolen said that there is still much\nto achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This includes full equipage of Automatic Dependent\nSurveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) by the FAA\u2019s Jan. 1, 2020, deadline. Bolen told\nthe subcommittee that NBAA has launched a targeted campaign to business\naviation to highlight the critical importance of meeting the ADS-B equipage\ndeadline. \u201cOur work has paid off, with nearly 70-percent of turbojet and\nturboprop business aircraft now ADS-B equipped according to the FAA\u2019s Equip\n2020 working group, an increase of nearly 15-percent since the beginning of\nthis year,\u201d reported Bolen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NBAA also continues to work with the FAA on the privacy and\nsecurity implications of ADS-B\u2019s real-time tracking of general aviation, and\nlooks forward to a solution that will provide ATC and other government\nstakeholders all needed tracking information, while safeguarding real-time\nmovements from public view. \u201cWe appreciate the FAA\u2019s work on this project and\nlook forward to a solution in the coming months,\u201d noted Bolen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Congressional support of NextGen is critical to its success,\nand passage of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 highlighted Congress\u2019s\nleadership in providing certainty and the needed investments for the aviation\nindustry to be successful, said Bolen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, NextGen needs funding protection from the negative\neffects of government shutdowns, which can halt progress and introduce months\nof delays to modernization efforts. To mitigate these adverse effects, NBAA\nsupports the Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2019, a law that will permit FAA\nthe use of funds from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund during lapses in\ngovernment funding, Bolen told the subcommittee members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNBAA has always been steadfast in its support and\nadvancement of NextGen technologies that allow equal and fair access to\nairports and airspace for all aviation stakeholders, and this hearing provides\nan important opportunity to review our progress,\u201d Bolen concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n