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Airlines Will Reap Benefits From New Oceanic Control System

World Airline News, June 1, 2001

Experts Predict Reduced Separation, Increased Fuel Efficiency

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken an important step forward in the modernization of its oceanic air-traffic control (ATC) system, a project which aviation experts say will cut flight times and increase fuel efficiency for all international flights into or out of the U.S.

On May 24 the FAA announced that it has selected a group headed by Lockheed Martin to undertake the Advanced Technologies and Oceanic Procedures (ATOP) project. For the past several months, the FAA has been considering whether to choose Lockheed Martin, which already supplies many systems to the agency, or a rival team led by ARINC.

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The current paper-based system used by the FAA is considered by most to be inefficient and outdated. Once installed, the new system will give controllers the ability to reduce separation between aircraft on oceanic routes, and will give pilots greater flexibility to choose their own routes.

The FAA has now entered the negotiation stage with Lockheed Martin. A contract should be drawn up within a month, but it may take between two and three years to install the new system, said Lockheed Martin spokesperson Judy Gan.

Although no figures have been released by the FAA, some reports claim that the contract is worth US$500 million.

The Lockheed Martin team also includes Adacel Technologies and Airways Corporation of New Zealand. Adacel supplies the oceanic air-traffic management system, which is operated in New Zealand. For the FAA contract, the system will be scaled up, and will incorporate Lockheed Martin's surveillance data processing system known as Micro-EARTS.

The U.S. controls 80 percent, or 23 million square miles, of the world's oceanic airspace from its centers in Anchorage, Oakland, and New York City. An FAA official said that the importance of oceanic ATC for airline operations is demonstrated by revenue figures. Although only 5 percent of U.S. traffic is oceanic, it generates US$28 billion in revenue a year. In the U.S., oceanic flights account for 60 percent of cargo revenue and 28 percent of passenger revenue.

By 2010, the amount of revenue generated by oceanic flights will have climbed by almost 50 percent to US$40 billion a year, the FAA official said. However, this growth would cause significant congestion without the ATOP project.

Lockheed Martin Seeks New Customers For Oceanic System

While the ATOP program will give the U.S. the most up-to-date oceanic system in the world, the greatest savings for airlines will come when such advanced systems are used on both ends of a transoceanic trip. Lockheed officials believe that the U.S. contract will give the company additional leverage in marketing the system overseas.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the United Kingdom is a potential target for the company, as negotiations between the government and another oceanic ATC provider have stalled. Lockheed already supplies en-route ATC technology to the UK, Gan said.

In addition, Portugal operates a more basic version of the system that Lockheed is installing in the U.S., and there is a possibility that Lockheed will modernize this system.

Across the Pacific, New Zealand was the first to introduce the system that Lockheed is marketing, and Australia operates a similar advanced system. Many Southeast Asian nations are testing automated oceanic systems, and are expected to soon offer tenders.

The more prevalent the Lockheed system, the greater the benefits from "global harmonization" of oceanic ATC, Gan said.

Controllers Say ATOP Will Allow Route Changes

The FAA's current oceanic system requires controllers to manually track oceanic flights on paper using radio reports. The new system will automatically collect, manage, and display aircraft information, utilizing tools such as automatic dependent surveillance (ADS), flight and radar data processing, controller-pilot datalink, and conflict probe.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) was closely involved with the ATOP selection process, and has enthusiastically endorsed the FAA decision to award the contract to Lockheed, NATCA project liaison Kevin Chamness told World Airline News. The automated system will give controllers the flexibility they need to approve pilot requests for route changes, Chamness said, which means pilots can better avoid adverse weather and wind conditions. Currently, controllers are not able to approve many requests as they spend 70 percent of their time updating paper records.

Because Atlantic routes are more crowded than in the Pacific, observers say Pacific flights will be more likely to benefit from the ability to alter routes.

Separation Standards Can Be Reduced

In addition to this increased flexibility, the ADS system means aircraft position can be plotted more accurately, as it gives position reports automatically and much more frequently.

It is this increased accuracy that means separation standards can be reduced. ATOP will allow the FAA to apply International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) separation standards in both the Pacific and Atlantic that the agency is unable to apply now due to technology limitations.

Transportation Industry

Airlines Will Reap Benefits From New Oceanic Control System

World Airline News, June 1, 2001

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