Airlines are not the only organizations supportive of a new funding system for FAA, or a new air traffic control system for America.
"The only way that you can change the ability to handle more volume is to fix the air traffic control system."
-Dean Headley, Porfessor, Wichita State University
4/11/08, Aviation Daily
"These projects [which make up the building blocks of NextGen] can ease congestion and delays, and confer needed safety and efficiency benefits immediately, to an ATC system under significant stress."
-Patrick Forrey, President, NATCA
3/36/08, before the Aero Club of Washington
"The acceleration of NextGen technologies will result in reductions to costs, energy use, carbon emissions and noise. It will also allow for the safe expansion of underutilized air space."
-Bruce Holmes, Chief Strategies of NextGen Systems, Dayjet
2/28/08, Government Executive
"Lawmakers need to take action if we want real change and improvement in air travel. We will do everything we can to address the symptoms, but
significant air travel reform must come with involvement from Congress."
-D.J. Gribbin, General Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation
11/21/07, USA Today Opinion
“Real solutions to the delay problem must focus on increasing capacity and protecting passengers, not artificially restricting demand. There is much we can do. In the short term, we should improve our policies through programs like RNAV, which would allow planes to move in and out of the airport more efficiently. We should invest in new technologies like NextGen, which, if properly implemented, could start reducing delays as soon as 2008.”
-Jon S. Corzine, Governor, State of New Jersey and Eliot Spitzer, Governor, State of New York
10/24/07, Letter to Department of Transportation Sec. Mary Peters
"The fundamental problem is we are working within the constraint of air traffic control technology that is half a century old."
-Marion Blakey, former Administrator, FAA
10/18/07, Honolulu Advertiser
"Cancellations and delays cost the airlines dearly in lost revenue, wasted fuel, and repositioning costs. To improve utilization of today's terminals, runways and airspace, the technology we take for granted in our cars (and even our BlackBErris) needs to be adapted to the skies. Global positioning systems and data communications between aircraft and controllers must replace the anitquated radar-and-radio infrastructure that we have now outgrown."
-Josh Marks, Founder and Executive Vice President, MAXjet
10/16/07, New York Times Opinion
"This is a very old ATC system that can't handle traffic and weather as well as it should."
-Marion Blakey, former Administrator, FAA
9/28/07, Wall Street Journal
"Built in the 1950's, before the jet age and advances in avionics, the ATC continues to rely on radar and analog radio in a satellite and digital world. Unless improvements are made on these strained systems, continued growth in air travel — both commercial and private —will result in increased delays, loss of revenues, and overall hampering of growth in air travel."
-Robert Buckman, expert blogger for FastCompany.com and Director of airline distribution strategy for Amadeus in North America
9/28/07, Fox News
“Congress needs to look at this FAA reauthorization — I call it ‘modernization’ — and work with this department . . . so that our consumers and passengers and citizens won’t be inconvenienced...”
-President Bush
9/27/07, CQ Today
"America went to the moon and is on the cutting-edge of much new technology. It's ironic that the U.S. is now a world laggard in adapting its air traffic control systems to a 21st Century economy."
-Editorial Board
9/17/07, Wall Street Journal
“ADS-B – and, in turn, NextGen – will attack the delay problem head on by dramatically increasing air traffic efficiency.”
-Bobby Sturgell, Deputy Administrator, FAA
8/31/07, Travel Weekly
“Aviation is critical for the economy as we move forward, and our current infrastructure is simply too antiquated to support the level of traffic.”
-Marion Blakey, former Administrator, FAA
8/27/07, Washington Post
"The technology we're using to run the air traffic control system was developed in 1950. We now have more sophisticated navigation systems in rental cars than we do running the airport system."
-Mike Huckabee, R-AR
8/3/07, Iowa Gazette
"The current system cannot handle the projected traffic demands expected by 2015. Absent modernization, the consequences will be a total system collapse."
-Bobby Sturgell, Deputy Administrator, FAA
8/1/07, Popular Mechanics
“We’re pretty much at a saturation point and at this point, we’re just trying to find some Band-Aids to make the situation better instead of actually fixing the problem.”
-Ben Mutzabaugh, reporter and author of the “Today in the Sky” column on USAToday.com
6/14/07, CNN.com
"We must accelerate air traffic management improvements and efficiencies to reduce fuel burn. Improving energy efficiency has the dual benefit of improving both environmental and operational performance of the aviation sector."
-Dan Elwell, Assistant Administrator for Aviation Policy, Planning and Environment, FAA
4/2/08, before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on Aviation Emissions
"Some have said the environmental benefits [to be gained] alone justify the investment needed in NextGen."
-Marion Blakey, President and CEO, Aerospace Industries Association
3/19/08, Aviation and the Environment: A Primer for North American Stakeholders symposium
"If governments want to make a dent in what the United Nations has estimated is 2 percent of the world's carbon emissions that are generated from air travel, the real opportunity is to fund air traffic management improvements."
-Richard Crum, President, Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE)
11/19/07, Business Travel News
"In the U.S., switching from ground-based radar to a satellite-based ATC system would allow for more direct routes and reduce time spent circling an airport or running engines on a taxiway while awaiting takeoff. But the dispute over how best to finance the modernization has not been resolved. Clearly, pressure needs to be pplied on Congress to pass a realistic plan and on the FAA to implement it as qickly as possible."
-Andy Compart, Aviation Editor, Travel Weekly
11/5/07, Travel Weekly
“The airlines are right to ask that passengers pay only their fair share of taxes and fees. Congress should stop dawdling and put the matter on the front burner. Air travel is an essential engine of the U.S. economy. Modernizing the federal control system should keep pace with projected growth.”
-Editorial Board
1/10/08, The Detroit News
“GA planes and their air taxi colleagues are major users of the TRACON airspace around major airports, where they add to what is an increasing component of that airspace's congestion. A modest $25 per IFR turbine flight in such airspace would be a small step in the direction of better incentives to make wise use of that scarce and valuable airspace.”
-Robert Poole, Director of Transportation Studies, Reason Foundation
January 2008, ATC Reform Newsletter
"What's needed is a new system that can safely meet the demands. The Federal
Aviation Administration has developed such a system - it's called NextGen - but Congress hasn't done enough to adequately fund that development."
-Editorial Board
10/14/07, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Congress needs to ignore the lobbyists and settle on a fair funding plan that takes into account the growing burden of private jet travel on the system."
-Editorial Board
9/6/07, Waco Tribune
“What's fair is fair. Your airfare shouldn't be subsidizing corporate flight.”
-Editorial Board
9/6/07, The (Mass.) Republican
“The current system, involving hub airports and aging technologies, is doing more than it was designed to do, and passenger traffic still is increasing. The drop in traffic after 9/11 offered only a temporary reprieve for changes that still need to be made. Airliner loading is now approaching 90 percent of capacity — and bad weather triggers domino-effect delays. Congress needs to find the right way to pay for a change, but there is no doubt that improvements must be funded. Air travel must be revamped. Airlines and the FAA have to work harder to help create a better system.”
-Editorial Board
9/5/07, Buffalo News
"The next time you pay for an airline ticket take comfort in knowing that you are
subsidizing those rich guys flying in on those cute multi-million dollar corporate
jets."
-Editoral Board
9/4/07, The (Miss.) Democrat
"The air traffic control system may not need an entirely new finance plan, but it's absolutely absurd that airline passengers are forced to subsidize the luxury enjoyed by those people who fly in private jets."
-Editorial Board
9/2/07, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“We want a more stable revenue source that is more closely tied to the services we provide. The ticket taxes we collect now may as well be tied to the cost of milk. They have absolutely no relationship to the costs of the system.”
-Laura Brown, Spokeswoman, FAA
8/6/07, The Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pa.)
“This boils down to the passengers flying on commercial airlines subsidizing the flights of corporate executives and others who fly private jets, and a system that incentivizes incredible growth in general aviation traffic.”
-Marion Blakey, former Administrator, FAA
8/6/07, The Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pa.)
"I firmly believe a cost-based funding structure is our best chance of transforming the aviation system ... quickly and efficiently."
-Marion Blakey, former Administrator, FAA
8/2/07, Aviation Daily