	FAA Faces Challenges in Directing Resources and Addressing Environmental Issues to Ensure Timely Implementation

		Developing Navigation Procedures with Significant Benefits in a Timely Manner

Developing Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation  Performance (RNP) procedures, often called performance-based  navigation procedures, with significant benefits is one way to leverage  existing technology in the near term and provide immediate benefits to  industry, but developing these procedures expeditiously will be a  challenge for FAA. Benefits of RNAV and RNP can also  include reduced fuel usage, reduced carbon emissions, reduced noise,  shorter flights, fewer delays, less congestion, and improved safety. While private sector development may be one way to accelerate procedure  development, issues related to FAA’s capacity to approve these  procedures remain, according to some stakeholders. Completing Timely Environmental Reviews and Addressing Local Concerns

As FAA develops new procedures to make more efficient use of airspace  in congested metropolitan areas, it will be challenged to complete the  necessary environmental reviews quickly and address local concerns  about the development of new procedures and airspace redesign. 2. 3. The 2009 FAA reauthorization legislation includes  language that may expedite the environmental review process. FAA Faces Challenges in Changing Its Culture and Business Practices in Order to Respond Effectively to the Task Force’s Recommendations

		Changing from an Organization and Culture Focused on System Acquisition to an Emphasis on Integration and Coordination

According to stakeholders and Task Force members, and as we have  previously reported, FAA faces organizational and cultural challenges in  implementing NextGen operational capabilities. Reprioritizing or Changing Some Aspects of Plans and Programs to Implement the Task Force’s Recommendations

While many of the operational improvements identified by the Task Force  align with FAA’s current plans, a senior FAA official indicated that in  several instances, FAA may need to adjust its plans, budgets, and priorities  as it decides how it will respond to the Task Force’s recommendations. Responding to the Task Force’s recommendations will  require a willingness to change and reprioritize current plans and  programs. Stakeholders, including airlines and general aviation groups, including one  that represents avionics manufacturers, as well as the Task Force, have  said that these processes take too long and impose costs on industry that  discourage the stakeholders from investing in NextGen aircraft equipment. The Task Force  recommended the creation of a NextGen Implementation Workgroup  under the RTCA Air Traffic Management Advisory Committee (ATMAC). In addition, FAA will need to continue to work toward changing the nature  of its relationship with controllers and the controllers’ union to create  more effective engagement and collaboration. FAA Faces Challenges to Provide Incentives to Accelerate New Equipage as NextGen Progresses

The Task Force’s focus was on making better use of the equipment that  has already been installed or is available for installation. Mandating Equipage

The first option is mandating the installation of equipment. Our prior work has identified a variety of  other disincentives to early investment. Making the Best Use of Equipment that Is Widely Deployed

A second option to accelerate equipage is to develop operational  improvements that make use of equipment that is already widely deployed  to produce benefits for operators to justify the costs of equipage. Early success in implementing some of the  Task Force’s near-term recommendations will help build trust between  FAA and operators that FAA will provide operational improvements that  allow operators to take advantage of the required equipment and realize  benefits. However, designing such incentives and analyzing  how they will work in practice is a major challenge and has only begun to  move forward. Providing Financial Incentives

A fourth option is to provide financial incentives where operators do not  have a clear and timely return on investment for equipping aircraft. For example, mechanisms for financial assistance should  be designed so as to effectively target parts of the fleet and geographical  locations where benefits are deemed to be greatest, avoid unnecessarily  equipping aircraft (e.g., those that are about to be retired), and not  displace private investment that would otherwise occur.
Why GAO Did This Study

On September 9, 2009, the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Midterm Implementation Task Force (Task Force) issued its final report and recommendations. The Task Force was to reach a consensus on the operational improvements to the air transportation system that should be implemented between now and 2018. Its recommendations call for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop improvements that allow operators to take advantage of equipment that has been widely deployed or is available for installation in existing aircraft. FAA is now considering how to modify its existing plans and programs in response to the Task Force's recommendations and must do so in a way that retains safety as the highest priority. This testimony highlights the NextGen challenges previously identified by GAO and others that affect FAA's response to the Task Force's recommendations. GAO groups these challenges into three areas: (1) directing resources and addressing environmental issues, (2) adjusting its culture and business practices, and (3) developing and implementing options to encourage airlines and general aviation to equip aircraft with new technologies. GAO's testimony updates prior GAO work with interviews with agency officials and industry stakeholders and includes an analysis of the Task Force report.

What GAO Found

Directing resources and addressing environmental issues. Allocating resources for advanced navigational procedures and airspace redesign requires FAA to balance benefits to operators against resource limits and other challenges to the timely implementation of NextGen. Procedures that allow more direct flights--versus those that overlay existing routes--and redesigned airspace in congested metropolitan areas can save operators time, fuel, and costs, and reduce congestion, delays, and emissions. However, FAA does not have the capacity to expedite progress towards its current procedure development targets. While FAA has begun to explore the use of the private sector to help develop procedures, issues related to public use of these procedures and oversight of developers remain. In addition, required environmental reviews can be lengthy, especially when planned changes in noise patterns create community concerns during reviews. Challenges to FAA include deciding whether to start in more or less complex metropolitan areas, and finding ways to expedite the environmental review process and proactively ameliorate community concerns. Changing FAA's culture and business practices. According to stakeholders and Task Force members, and as GAO has previously reported, FAA faces cultural and organizational challenges in implementing NextGen capabilities. Whereas FAA's culture and organization formerly supported the acquisition of individual air traffic control systems, FAA will now have to integrate and coordinate activities across multiple lines of business, as well as reprioritize some of its plans and programs, to implement near-term and midterm capabilities. FAA is currently analyzing what changes may be required to respond to the recommendations. StreamliningFAA's certification, operational approval, and procedure design processes, as a prior task force recommended, will also be essential for timely implementation. And sustaining a high level of involvement and collaboration with stakeholders--including operators, air traffic controllers, and others--will also be necessary to ensure progress. Developing and implementing options to encourage equipage. The Task Force focused on making better use of equipment that has already been widely deployed in aircraft, but as NextGen progresses, new equipment will have to be installed to implement future capabilities and FAA may have to offer incentives for operators to accelerate their installation of equipment that may not yield an immediate return on investment. While FAA could mandate equipage, mandates take time to implement and can impose costs, risks, and other disincentives on operators that discourage early investment in equipment. The Task Force identified several options to encourage equipage, including offering operational or financial benefits to early equippers. Challenges to implementing these options include defining how operational incentives would work in practice, designing financial incentives so as not to displace private investment that would otherwise occur, and targeting incentives where benefits are greatest.