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Speech

ICAO NextGen/SESAR Integration Forum

Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, it’s an honor to be back in the beautiful city of Montreal. It’s hard to believe that the 36^th Assembly was a year ago. And what a year it’s been. I know that I don’t have to tell any of you what has dominated U.S. headlines — campaigns, fuel prices, and aviation safety. I’ll leave the topic of campaigns alone for now, but can’t stand here before you today without talking fuel issues or safety.

We’ve reached a crossroad over the last year. That crossroad was created when the biggest and safest aviation system in the world was accused of being “unsafe.” At the same time, record fuel prices were also making the news. If we weren’t reading about safety compliance then we were reading about the projected costs of tickets. Day in, day out the headlines shook us all — travelers, FAA employees, everyone in the aviation industry. I think that we can all agree it’s been a tough time.

So what happens at this intersection? We have to take a good look at how we plan and conduct our business. And, as with any learning organization, we use the lessons learned from the past to improve and reinforce our processes.

And so it is with the ATM systems of the future. For years, the United States has known that we are approaching a crossroad with our system, specifically in air traffic management. We’ve known for some time that we were coming to a point when we’d need to make a decision on which way to turn — which road to take — to modernize our infrastructure.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re at that point here and now.

Our focus today and tomorrow is all about seamlessly weaving these two ATM pieces — NextGen and SESAR — into the global tapestry of aviation. It’s going to be a heavy lift, no doubt about it.

Consistency will be key. So will focus. That means sharing flight plans — developing common procedures and systems that allow our pilots to fly into each other’s airspaces.

This will create challenges. Let’s face some hard facts:  for years, we’ve viewed the creation of these two massive programs in terms of who gets there first. We’ve debated about the mix of government and industry on the teams. So, let’s take some of the challenge away. NextGen and SESAR need to be developed in a true spirit of cooperation and trust. There’s enough work and hard decisions to make, so let’s “divvy” up the pot.

NextGen and SESAR will help to create the type of operational efficiencies that become more and more critical each day. Fuel prices demand it. Passenger loads demand it. The environment demands it. And we should demand it of ourselves.

ICAO’s role will be critical. ICAO will provide an indispensable foundation for the new technologies and practices that future systems will employ. ICAO needs to set the standards and needs us to work together to make sure that we don’t spend years in coming to an agreement.

Most of you know that the United States was audited by ICAO last November. The final results were made public a few weeks ago, and they once again prove that focus yields positive results. It’s with that same energy that we’re focusing on NextGen.

The United States and partners from around the world — whether we are talking about Europe, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan or India — we’re all counting on ICAO to provide the kind of leadership that aviation needs.

The urgency is certainly there. NextGen is coming into focus by the day. As is SESAR. And as we continue to move quickly, so too should ICAO. We need it to be focused, faster, and more efficient in order to meet air transportation’s most pressing needs.

So what are we doing on our end?

We have refocused our organization to ensure that NextGen is a priority in Washington. We’ve delivered an implementation plan. And 2009 is going to be a watershed year when we get our first major funding for NextGen.

The President’s budget request includes $688 million for transformational programs like Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), System Wide Information Management (SWIM), Data Communications, and network-enabled weather.

We’ve already begun transitioning to NextGen with the introduction of performance-based navigation, and with the acquisition phase of ADS-B. There are R&D activities for operational improvements between now and 2018. I could continue down the list, but let’s talk about some of the work that brings many of us here today.

How many of you recall that the starting point for integrating NextGen and SESAR came in the form of an MOU with the EC in 2006 — building on the foundation started with our long term cooperation with Eurocontrol?

This MOU was a clear statement of intent by both Europe and the U.S. to harmonize our ATM systems of the future.

A year later, we jointly announced a demonstration project called the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE) that accelerates the development of operational improvements for all phases of flight.

These improvements will meet the challenges that are being imposed on our industry by fuel costs and environmental concerns.

We’re looking forward to daily tailored arrivals trials beginning in Miami during the middle of September with both American Airlines and Air France.

This will build on the success of the work done over the past year in San Francisco. And speaking of San Francisco, later this week I am meeting the first ASPIRE flight when it arrives in San Francisco.

ASPIRE is the Asia Pacific initiative modeled after AIRE. And we are not done. We are talking with other partners around the globe, and I am confident that you will hear about other similar initiatives in the months ahead.

As you can see, we’re not doing this alone. We can’t do this by ourselves. We are committed on three fronts — to working with our global partners, to being consistent, and to counting on ICAO to help us all meet our goal of a highly safe, efficient, and environmentally sound global aviation system.

I’m often asked what’s the toughest part about harmonization. I’d have to say the commitment. It requires us to keep our focus on our global partners, not on ourselves. Sure, it may be easier to make your own plans. It’s probably cheaper too.

But in the end, it’s important for our nations, our citizens, our airlines, that we keep looking outward, not inward. Because at some point, all countries are going to find themselves at that crossroad I referred to earlier.

All of us will face making tough decisions. Today, it’s more important than ever that we maintain an active dialogue and work together. Harmonization and interoperability are key to the future integrity of our global aviation system. Thank you.