Projections in 2003 indicated that air traffic would increase by 200-300% within 20 years, but forecasts have fallen woefully short (Pruchnicki, 2010). Rather than increasing, air traffic has actually decreased radically over the last 20 years (Lewis, 2015). FAA data shows that airport operations peaked in 1999 and total operations are now down 28% (Lewis, 2015). This means that one of the main justifications for NextGen--that it could handle the additional workload--is no longer a main driver of the system. Despite the lack of growth, additional capacity is a good thing. Someday, perhaps under a privatized structure, general aviation might recover, Air traffic might again increase, and it would be nice to have the means in place to handle additional
Projections in 2003 indicated that air traffic would increase by 200-300% within 20 years, but forecasts have fallen woefully short (Pruchnicki, 2010). Rather than increasing, air traffic has actually decreased radically over the last 20 years (Lewis, 2015). FAA data shows that airport operations peaked in 1999 and total operations are now down 28% (Lewis, 2015). This means that one of the main justifications for NextGen--that it could handle the additional workload--is no longer a main driver of the system. Despite the lack of growth, additional capacity is a good thing. Someday, perhaps under a privatized structure, general aviation might recover, Air traffic might again increase, and it would be nice to have the means in place to handle additional