Public-Private Partnership Aims to Increase Air Traffic Capacity

A new non-profit group – Alliance for Sustainable Air Transportation (ASAT) – wants to help accelerate implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and “realize the early economic and environmental benefits of sustainable air transportation by helping to drive the transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). It hopes to accomplish its mission by educating stakeholders, defining metrics, developing a blueprint for implementation, and facilitating the development of prototypes. ASAT's strategy is to support the implementation of NextGen regionally, locally, and in stages, through prototypes that favor the greatest benefits in the shortest time.
Based in based in Massachusetts, ASAT was announced by Florida's Governor Charlie Crist at the 2008 Florida Summit on Climate Change conference last June in Miami.
"With 80 percent of U.S. air traffic concentrated at only 35 airports, and with 740 million gallons of jet fuel wasted in 2007 due to flight delays in the United States alone, we cannot afford to wait,” said said ASAT Co-founder Traver Gruen-Kennedy, who remains vice president of community and government affairs at DayJet which is helping the FAA test NextGen systems. “ASAT's work will assist the implementation of NextGen operating efficiencies and environmental benefits for the good of travelers, employees, partners, shareholders and our communities at large. It is our hope that these efforts will be a model for implementing similar partnerships in other parts of the world."
In addition to Day Jet’s efforts, The Personal Air Transportation Alliance (PATA), is also working on NextGen tests by its members. Related Story

NextGen and the Need
NextGen promises to transform the air transportation system by leveraging new technologies, such as satellite-based navigation, surveillance, and networking, as well as the use of more efficient aircraft and under-utilized airspace. ASAT will achieve its goals for NextGen through facilitating the creation of state, regional and local prototype solutions, which will generate early successes that can be built upon and developed into a replicable blueprint for nationwide implementation.
It is estimated that NextGen may accommodate two to three times the current air traffic levels by shifting from ground-based, human-centric communications, navigation and surveillance systems to satellite-based, cockpit-enabled air traffic management, said ASAT. According to the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO), NextGen may also reduce carbon emissions in aviation by up to 12 percent, while lowering fuel consumption.
NextGen's potential to improve environmental performance is being demonstrated in a test program at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where American Airlines’ use of NextGen-related procedures is reducing carbon dioxide emissions by levels equivalent to removing 15,000 cars from the road for a year.
The Alliance for Sustainable Air Transportation (ASAT) is a non-profit public-private partnership – a broad coalition of leaders who share a vision for accelerated implementation of a sustainable air transportation system. ASAT is a diverse group of federal, state, regional and local government entities and academic institutions.
ASAT is open to all willing to contribute to its success. Current members and partners include: ACS International LLC, DayJet, Destiny, Florida – The Pugliese Company, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Federal Aviation Administration, Harris Corporation, JetSuite, Joint Planning and Development Office, Mineta Transportation Institute/SJSU, New Mexico State University, Selex Sistemi Integrati, Inc., SERCO, South Carolina Department of Commerce/Aeronautics Division, State of Florida, Unisys and University of Central Florida.