Establishing public-private partnerships is a vital part of jump-starting the implementation of FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), according to a panel at the Paris Air Show on Wednesday.
ITT, which is constructing the ground infrastructure for the NextGen-cornerstone Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), organized the panel consisting of Marion Blakey, president of the Aerospace Industries Association; Russ Chew, managing partner of Nexa Capital Parnters; John Kefaliotis, vice president of Next Generation Transportation Systems at ITT Corp.; and Tom Captain, vice chairman, U.S. aerospace and defense sector, at Deloitte LLP.
Nexa Capital Partners and ITT in 2010 announced a funding mechanism aimed at supporting airlines in buying and installing NextGen avionics beginning in 2012. The $1.5 billion fund is aimed at financing new avionics for 75 percent of the U.S. airline fleet, and is designed to "break the logjam of NextGen," Chew said Wednesday. In addition, the cooperation is exactly the type of partnerships that will bring NextGen closer to reality. These funds allows companies to defer payments back to the fund until the capability is delivered, which, in turn, binds the government to deliver NextGen in "a meaningful way," Chew said.
"The equipage fund is founded on one philosophy — let’s stop talking about it [NextGen] and let’s just do it," Chew said. "Without solving equipage we won’t achieve NextGen."
Chew said he predicts more funding mechanisms like the ITT-Nexa one will spring up in the future, prompting more equipage and more funds.
Avionics Magazine is hosting a symposium to discuss the technologies needed for NextGen. For more information or to register, visit www.avionicsfornextgen.com.