America's air traffic control system is facing a perfect storm. The acknowledged funding gap over the next five years is $8 billion, and with business-as-usual budgeting, the shortfall could be as much as $25 billion over the next 20 years. This comes just as air traffic is making a strong rebound, but one in which passengers are flying in a changing mix of mainline, regional, corporate and micro jets and even air taxis. Add to that the impending retirement of two-thirds of the controller workforce, obsolescent facilities and equipment, and the situation looks bleak. Yet the funding crisis is so severe that it is prompting efforts to think outside the box. At FAA's Trust Fund Forum in Washington Apr. 25-26, it became clear that the ATC system faces not one but two crises-not just in funding, but also in performance. And they are critically linked.
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