FAA's NextGen Implementation Plan: Comprehensive Overhaul of National Airspace System for Safety and Efficiency, Benefits, Challenges, Investments for Operators and Airports

This official Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) document - converted for accurate flowing-text ebook format reproduction - is a reproduction of the NextGen Implementation Plan, which provides an overview of the FAA's ongoing transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System. The Plan lays out the agency's vision for transforming the way things work in our nation's skies and at our nation's airports by the end of the mid-term. The Plan further provides a status report on the NextGen deployments, capabilities and benefits we have already introduced into the National Airspace System (NAS), as well as the goals we have set and commitments we have made in support of our mid-term vision. Additionally, the Plan addresses the harmonization work we are doing with the global aviation community to ensure aircraft operating globally receive the operational benefits in various international air traffic environments.
The primary goals of NextGen are to enhance the safety and reliability of air transportation, to improve efficiency in the NAS and to reduce aviation's impact on our environment.

NextGen is a comprehensive overhaul of our National Airspace System to make air travel more convenient and dependable, while ensuring your flight is as safe, secure and hassle-free as possible.
In a continuous roll-out of improvements and upgrades, the FAA is building the capability to guide and track air traffic more precisely and efficiently to save fuel and reduce noise and pollution. NextGen is better for our environment, and better for our economy.
• NextGen will be a better way of doing business. Travel will be more predictable because there will be fewer delays, less time sitting on the ground and holding in the air, with more flexibility to get around weather problems.
• NextGen will reduce aviation's impact on the environment. Flying will be quieter, cleaner and more fuel-efficient. We'll use alternative fuels, new equipment and operational procedures, lessening our impact on the climate. More precise flight paths help us limit the amount of noise that communities experience.
• NextGen will help us be even more proactive about preventing accidents with advanced safety management to enable us, with other government agencies and aviation partners, to better predict risks and then identify and resolve hazards.

Executive Summary * Introduction * NextGen Today * NextGen Benefits * NextGen: Operating in the Mid-Term * NextGen Ahead Challenges * Appendix A: * NextGen Investments for Operators and Airports * Appendix B: * Delivering the Mid-Term Vision * Airport and Facility Identifiers * Acronyms