Before We Start…
New Programs For Future-Focused Airports & Communities…
Boyd Group International and its China partners are now offering programs to assist airports and communities in attracting more of the burgeoning Chinese investment in the USA, as well as the 23 million Chinese leisure travelers coming here in the next five years.
As an example, we recently delivered a China air service and business symposium for industry leaders in North Carolina.
Sponsored by the forward-thinkers at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the program presentation is available by clicking here… it gives perspective on not only the issue of new China air service to the US, but also the industry-leading research of BGI in regard to China aviation. No other consulting firm has be depth in this area as does BGI, including our Airports:China forecasts.
If your airport and community are interested in exploring the China opportunity, and gaining industry-leading expertise on how to optimize it, click on the China button above, or send us an e-mail to discuss your objectives.
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Air Traffic Control. “Reform” Is Dead.
Actually, Reform Never Was On The Table
Based on what’s recently come out of the fog in Washington, US Air Traffic Control (ATC) “privatization” – which is mischaracterized and mislabeled as “reform” – is off the table.
That means it will be business as usual in regard to the Next-Gen naked emperor.
No changes, no accountability for failure or for implying that project failures are really successes.
Billions Spent… And Project Goals Slipping Into The Future. Yes, business as usual. The same ATC system that – even now with all those iconic vacuum tubes and old equipment already replaced – can’t handle current or future air transportation volume – will wallow on.
Any “improvements” in airline on-schedule reliability will depend on airlines continuing to shift schedules to allow more published sector time, and more turn time on the ground. An expensive concession to an ATC NextGen upgrade system that’s the poster-child of federal incompetence.
Note The Skies Are Not More Crowded. Do keep in mind that today there are 12% fewer airline flights in the sky than in 2007… that alone should have spiked “on-time” performance. It hasn’t.
Point: anyone awake, sober and with more than a grammar-school education can see that what’s gone on in the FAA in regard to ATC over the last 20 years has been a string of missed deadlines and pompous FAA Administrators getting away with it by telling swooning groupie-like network correspondents of how “successful” NextGen is.
Again, if NextGen were a private-industry program, funded by stock offerings, the leaders of this mess would be wearing orange jump suits. NextGen is a fraud.
Sorry if this offends all the cognoscenti in the industry who line up behind NextGen like the rhythm guitar section of a third-string country band, but the truth and the facts are that the FAA’s performance in regard to ATC has been shameful and a failure.
When “Reform” Is Really Just More Expensive Status-Quo. But the truth is that the folks who called for “reform” actually were suggesting nothing of the kind.
They, too, were intent on keeping the status-quo, at least in regard to accountability and dimbulb management. Other than governance, there’s been nothing else mentioned. In fact, it’s obvious that the “reform” supporters also support the management system that’s responsible for years of missed deadlines and bungled programs.
“Reform” only meant shifting the ATC system to a privatized structure, governed by a board that would come from across the aviation spectrum. That, according to the lore, would make the ATC system run smoother – and run by the same incompetent management and the same misdirected programs that have hamstringed progress for the last two to three decades.
Funny, but this same industry “spectrum” of entities that would be directing a “reformed” ATC has a group have never – never ever – dared aggressively and openly called for any functional and complete reform of the ATC system.
Never.
They, apparently have been quite satisfied with the non-performance of the FAA, and seem to imply that just “privatizing” the program will lead to consistent funding and smooth skies ahead. The dogma is that it’s only been a lack of money that has held the ATC system back.
That contention is bogus. Wrong. Misleading. Not accurate.
Most of the GAO and DOT IG reports on NextGen have pointed to far more fundamental issues. Like, lack of clear objectives. Like, lack of strong direction and management. Like, NextGen not at all being “transformational.”
Take a gander, nobody on either side of this embarrassing Kabuki Theater has ever come out and called for any “reform” in regard to decades of missed deadlines and bogus goals.
None were, and none are, being planned.
The Anti-Reform Segment Wasn’t Focused On Demanding Results, Either. But as far as any fundamental changes, it makes no difference.
Remember, most of the entities that were against this “reform” only focused on the supposed disaster for rural communities if greedy airlines got their paws on the ATC tiller. Regardless of whether that fear was valid or not, the fact remains that the amen-corner for status-quo has been silent in demanding that the creaky management directing NextGen be advised to find a new set of careers.
Truth be known, “reform” – as curiously defined in this matter – is dead. As defined in the real world we all live in, it never was a proposal.
Both sides really wanted the same outcome… keeping the functional status quo, and shielding the FAA from any accountability for NextGen failures.
Move on, everybody, nothing to see here.