FAA Expands Runway Status Lights Nationwide

Sensis Corp was awarded a $131 million, three-year contract to install runway status lights at 22 major U.S. airports. The award from the Federal Aviation Administration includes two one-year options to install the lights at additional airports, for a total contract value of $215 million.
The award follows successful testing at Dallas-Fort Worth and San Diego and an agency decision to deploy the lights at the same airports where the Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X (ASDE-X) systems are being installed. The lights use the ASDE-X surveillance data to operate.
As part of the initial contract, runway status lights will be deployed at Atlanta; Baltimore Washington International; Boston; Charlotte, NC; Chicago O’Hare; Dallas-Fort Worth; Denver; Detroit; Washington Dulles; Fort Lauderdale; Houston Intercontinental; New York John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Newark, N.J.; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; San Diego; and Seattle airports.
The lights are part of an FAA initiatives to improve runway safety at U.S. airports, an effort that received renewed concentration about 18 months ago after the National Transportation Safety Board held a day-long symposium on improving runway safety. The effort includes agreements with four U.S. airlines to fund in-cockpit runway safety systems in exchange for critical operational data. The data will help the FAA evaluate the safety impact of the surface moving maps for flights to or from 21 test bed airports and is expected to accelerate key safety capabilities necessary for the transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System.