Airspace & Air Traffic Management

ARLINGTON, Va., 14 Feb. 2012. President Obama has signed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Modernization and Reform Act 2012—with funding and provisions for granting military, commercial, and privately-owned greater access to U.S. airspace and air traffic management systems modernization—into law.

SINGAPORE, 14 Feb. 2012. Officials from Rockwell Collins and ICBC Leasing in China took part in a ceremony at the 2012 Singapore Airshow whereby ICBC will acquire and use as a baseline a suite of Rockwell Collins communication, navigation, and surveillance avionics for up to 42 new Airbus A320 aircraft, the deliveries of which will begin in the coming months.

ANNAPOLIS, Md., 12 Feb. 2012. Commercial aircraft operators may start using an air traffic management (ATM) communications technology called the FANS 1/A over HFDL (FOH), after officials of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved FOH as a viable means of Air Traffic Service (ATS) communications. This means commercial aircraft may start using the global High Frequency Data Link (HFDL) network to communicate with air traffic controllers.

TOULOUSE, France, 10 Feb. 2012. An Airbus A320 test aircraft flew from Toulouse to Copenhagen and Stockholm in what company executives are calling the world’s first flight using four-dimensional optimized and upgraded air traffic management (ATM) technology. The test flight is part of the Initial-4D (I-4D) project, intended to reduce fuel burn and C02 emissions, reduce the environmental impact per flight by ten percent, and decrease delays for shorter, smoother flights. It is also expected to help not only improve the existing European system, which is reaching its capacity limit, but also transform today’s air traffic management system.

SEATTLE, 10 Feb. 2012. The Boeing Company in Seattle revealed a team of suppliers that will provide key components for the U.S. Air Force's KC-46A tanker. The aircraft manufacturer won a U.S. Air Force contract valued at more than $30 billion last year.

NASHUA, N.H., 9 Feb. 2012. Avionics Europe, the premier avionics conference and exhibition tackling issues and challenges of import to civil and defense avionics professionals, is complementing its conference program with informative workshops and forums. Avionics Europe is being held March 21-22, 2012 in Munich, Germany.
Leading industry organizations—including the Association of European Airlines, SESAR Joint Undertaking, EUROCAE, the German Aerospace Society, and the Royal Aeronautical Society—will host a series of special forums, focusing on important issues facing and impacting the work and business of avionics professionals and the industry at large.

WASHINGTON, 7 Feb. 2012. The heads of several associations in the avionics community are coming forward to commend the U.S. Congress for approving the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 2012. The bill awaits President Obama’s signature. The legislation would provide funding through 2015—a stark departure from the past several years, in which the House and Senate approved only short-term extensions (23 of them, in fact) to the 2004 funding levels.

Airlines for America (A4A), an industry trade organization for leading U.S. airlines, commends Congress for passing the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. A4A officials call the bill comprehensive and expect it “will help make air travel even more safe and efficient for passengers and shippers, while avoiding further tax increases for customers and airlines.”

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) applauds the U.S. Senate for passing the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 2012. The bill awaits President Obama’s signature before it becomes law. Once enacted, it starts the clock on a number of deadlines the FAA must meet to safely integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system; chief among them is a deadline for full integration by 30 Sept. 2015, says an AUVSI spokesperson.

Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) officials are pleased that the U.S. Congress has agreed on a four-year authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), running through fiscal year 2015. "This legislation is critical to all United States Aviation, and we are proud that much of the language specific to air medical operations originated from AAMS,” says Timothy Pickering, JD, CMTE, and current AAMS president. "We have worked tirelessly since 2006 to ensure that this language get incorporated into the final package to address significant issues that face our industry." 

Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) President and CEO Marion C. Blakey has issued a statement concerning the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, a bill that awaits President Obama’s signature. “It is critical to FAA operations and offers stability and predictability to the aviation industry instead of the uncertainty fueled by one short-term extension after another,” Blakely says.

STAMFORD, Conn., 31 Jan. 2012. JetBlue Airways is deploying PASSUR Integrated Traffic Management (PITM) from PASSUR Aerospace Inc. at its system operations center and throughout its network. The PITM Web-hosted, integrated business-intelligence platform targets key constraints through the life cycle of a flight to optimize fuel costs and emissions, schedule integrity, and the passenger experience. JetBlue officials selected the following PITM solutions: Traffic Management Initiative Optimization, Diversion Management, Surface Management/Departure Optimization, Hub Control Center Management, and Tarmac Delay Management.

LOS ANGELES AFB, Calif., 12 Jan. 2012. Navigation satellite designers at the Lockheed Martin Corp. Space Systems Co. in Newtown, Pa., outside Trenton will build the third and fourth Global Positioning System (GPS) III navigation and guidance satellites under terms of a $238.5 million contract awarded Wednesday by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.

ANNAPOLIS, Md., 20 Dec. 2011. ARINC Engineering Services LLC engineers, under contract with Rockwell Collins, has upgraded the navigation systems and advanced communications equipment on two OC-135B “Open Skies” observation aircraft. ARINC engineers installed the Rockwell Collins Block 40 Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) navigational upgrade and multiple new communications systems on both planes. With GATM navigational capability, the OC-135B meets worldwide Communications, Navigation, Surveillance, and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) mandates.

NASHUA, N.H., 17 Dec. 2011. The SESAR Joint Undertaking, the public-private partnership that oversees and manages European air traffic and the Single European Sky initiative, has confirmed its support of Avionics Europe, the premier avionics conference and exhibition being held March 21 and 22 in Munich, Germany. SESAR JU will deliver a workshop about SESAR and its direct implications for the avionics industry during Avionics Europe.

OSLO, Norway, 15 Dec. 2011. Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems, Northrop Grumman Corp.'s (NYSE:NOC) Europe-based air traffic management subsidiary, has received temporary certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for its NOVA 9000 airport surface movement guidance and control system. Park Air Systems officials claim that the company is the first, and currently the only, supplier of Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS) to obtain this certification from the civil aviation authority in China.

EVERETT, Wash., 15 Dec. 2011. Boeing (NYSE:BA) has set two new world records with the 787 Dreamliner airplane. The passenger aircraft established new marks for speed and distance in the airplane's weight class. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner combines long distance capabilities with mid-size capacity (210 to 250 passengers in a three-class seating), enabling airlines to open new, non-stop routes and to benefit from improved fuel efficiency over similarly sized airplanes.

MINERAL WELLS, Texas, 4 Dec. 2011. The Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) from the Cobham plc Commercial Systems segment in Mineral Wells, Texas, has received supplemental type certificate (STC) amendments for hundreds of aircraft to provide localizer precision with vertical navigation (LPV) approach capability from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Washington, Cobham officials say. LPV approaches are a part of the FAA's NextGen air traffic management system and provide precision instrument approaches equivalent to instrument landing system (ILS) at thousands of airports without the need for ground infrastructure at each airport, Cobham officials say.