In addressing the committee today, I will focus on four topics: Traffic and delay trends, factors contributing to the increased system complexity, how the aviation community is responding, and finally specific actions that we must pursue in order to meet the forecasted demand and maintain global leadership in aviation safety, capacity and efficiency.

Traffic levels and delays have returned to levels seen prior to 9/11 in many areas of the country. These areas include airports in Chicago, Atlanta, the Washington area, the New York area, Las Vegas, and South Florida. There have also been increases in traffic in smaller airports in many areas of the country. Examples include Scottsdale, Teterboro, and West Palm Beach. Traffic in major en route corridors is also generating congestion not just due to higher traffic volume, but also as a result of increasing traffic pattern complexity.

The following factors have created challenges that are different than those experienced in 1999 and 2000. For example:

· Regional jets have replaced larger jets and turboprop aircraft resulting in different traffic flows and mix which require changes in operational techniques and strategies.

· North/south traffic flows have increased in the winter months changing how traffic flows must be managed around ceiling and visibility constraints. Unscheduled traffic has grown in South Florida and the Southwest.

· For the coming summer season, traffic growth is expected at Houston, and the NAS will face its usual severe convective weather challenges.

· Traffic increases in areas such as New York and Washington with airports in close proximity to each other resulted in greater complexity due to traffic climbing, descending, and crossing other traffic in the same airspace.

· Denser overhead traffic streams in areas such as the Chicago/New York corridor create challenges in merging the departing aircraft into already full traffic streams.

· Increased security operations (such as Combat Air Patrol and Temporary Flight Restrictions) have also generated challenges in accommodating higher volume and more complex traffic around restricted areas such as within the New York and Washington airspace, as well as during major events.

The FAA and aviation community have responded to these new challenges in such a way that performance across the NAS is good by most measures:

· The airport and customer community and the FAA worked together on actions to minimize delays resulting from major growth at Chicago’s O’Hare and Washington’s Dulles airport. Emerging issues resulting from growth at airports such as Fort Lauderdale and Las Vegas are being actively worked.

· The FAA, the airports, and lead carriers have increased airport capacity through the development of new arrival and departure procedures that use aircraft navigation capabilities. For example, new area navigation (RNAV) departure procedures were implemented at Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport. In addition, new procedures are being implemented at Dulles, Las Vegas, Portland, Philadelphia, Dallas Fort Worth, and South Florida.

· Airspace changes have also been worked collaboratively to relieve congestion points in new “hot-spots” such as South Florida. In addition, the vertical separation minima have been successfully reduced in high altitude airspace and are providing controllers with more flexibility to move the traffic.

· The FAA has been continually refining procedures and actions in conjunction with the customer community to manage traffic flows to minimize delays when congestion does occur.

· The FAA worked in collaboration with organizations that provide flight services for unscheduled operations to receive more timely and more accurate information on planned flights.

Beyond this year, commercial and general aviation will continue to see changes. The NAS will likely continue to see traffic growth, changes in the traffic patterns between major airports and metropolitan areas, and changes in the mix of aircraft that make up the traffic. In addition, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), very light jets, and commercial space launches will need to be accommodated in the NAS, with each bringing their own challenges for the operation of airspace, controller workload, system complexity, and overall operational productivity. Projections developed by DOT, FAA and MITRE (and documented in the Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System) indicate that by 2013, 16 airports and 7 metropolitan areas will need additional capacity to meet expected demand.

In order to meet the challenges of the future, the FAA and the aviation community need to be flexible and agile in adapting to changing requirements and demands. We must implement changes in technology, procedures, avionics, and policy that can - together - increase operational efficiency and productivity. We believe that the following actions will be required to achieve those goals:

· Take advantage of aircraft capabilities and avionics to implement the Roadmap for Performance-based Navigation. This is a most significant change because it is equivalent to adding precise navigation lanes in the sky without requiring ground based equipment. Moving to a performance based system will transform the way the National Airspace System (NAS) operates. By taking advantage of the aircraft’s flight management systems and avionics, Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures lead to safety, efficiency and capacity improvements, especially in complex and congested airspace such as Atlanta, and the Eastern United States. Over 200 procedures are being planned for implementation over the next few years. The initial RNP procedure implementations will be in New York’s Kennedy, Reagan National, and Houston airports. FAA is addressing key challenges to ensure these procedures are implemented expeditiously by streamlining both FAA and industry processes. This will provide direct operating benefits to customers and will enable the FAA to reduce the size, complexity, and cost of its infrastructure through selective divestments of ground-based navigation aids.

· Accelerate the implementation of Airspace changes to be more flexible, and to accommodate the expected growth in traffic and new airspace users such as UAVs. Again this has the real effect of streamlining traffic flows into congested areas and providing more efficient arrival and departure paths for all users.

· Emphasize enhancement of automation and decision support tools to enable controllers to handle more traffic by presenting them with automated-conflict free resolutions, thereby increasing system capacity and productivity and improving safety and the quality of service provided to customers.

· Develop a firm plan for the implementation of air/ground data link that will enable controllers and pilots, and their respective ground and onboard aircraft automation systems, to exchange digital messages that yield efficiency, productivity, and safety improvements.

· Improve traffic flow management capabilities, such as access to more timely and accurate information (e.g., for unscheduled flights), will permit the FAA to identify and solve congestion problems more quickly and efficiently.

· Transition to Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast – This is equivalent to providing pilots with electronic eyes in the sky and will permit the FAA to migrate to a less costly and more accurate surveillance system. By relying on aircraft avionics and the power of satellite navigation, we can improve situational awareness for pilots, allowing better access and effective communication about weather and terrain. We can also achieve capacity and performance under instrument flight rules (IFR), which are only possible today under visual flight rules (VFR). The positive experience and results shown by the Capstone Phase I program in Alaska are achievable in rest of the United States.

· Use advanced simulation technologies to train the new controller workforce. This will reduce the time and cost needed to train controllers and will improve trainee proficiency and readiness to implement advanced concepts of operation.

· Maintain a strategic view of investments in airport infrastructure and runways. We must continue to build runways and improve taxiways to stay ahead of the demand.

· Develop a comprehensive air traffic infrastructure consolidation plan.

· Develop and implement polices that enable enhanced access to airports through the use of modern and improved avionics and procedures instead of ground based infrastructure.

These actions will position us to meet ever increasing demands and have the potential for improving overall productivity between 20 and 40 percent while reducing future operating costs by several hundred million dollars per year. Over the next year, MITRE will be working with FAA’s ATO and JPDO to simulate and validate the productivity and cost saving estimates.

Implementing these changes will keep the United States as innovators and leaders of the Global aviation community. We have a lot of opportunities ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would be happy to answer questions.