FAA operations plan allows real-time exchanges with airlines

• By Dipka Bhambhani
• Dec 13, 2002

Federal Aviation Administration officials and members of the Air Transport Association yesterday gave a few details about the FAA's Operational Evolution Plan Version 5.0, due next month. The new version will include a Required Navigation Performance project and will call for a "broader effort" on the Collaborative Decision Making project, FAA spokesman Bill Schuman said.

Through CDM, the agency is working to use national air space more efficiently. FAA wants its command center in Herndon, Va., and other air traffic facilities to work more closely with airlines and airports to reduce delays.

The CDM project "includes software that lets airlines and the FAA exchange data in real time about flight changes, cancellations and delays," Schuman said.

Schuman said the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System project, which has suffered numerous delays and cost overruns, will not be updated until after future versions of the operational plan come out.