The US Congress at long last passed a repeatedly delayed, long-term funding bill that included some highly controversial "wasteful" programs by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). But the real news was that the US$63 billion bill will come closer to the goal of creating a safer and more efficient Global Positioning System (GPS) for US airports.

Unable to agree, Congress has become notorious for its 23 short-term extensions of the FAA over the past eight years.

A key element of the "Next Gen" bill was about $3 billion annually for the next phase of transforming the US air traffic system from one based on radar to one relying on global positioning satellites. About $11 billion of the bill accelerates the modernization programs at the US’s 35 busiest airports.

"Instead of time-consuming, fuel-burning, stair-step descents, planes will be able to glide in more steeply with their engines idling,"said msnbc.msn.

 Backers of the bill to create "Next Gen" say it will require the FAA to speed implementing performance-based navigation procedures at major airports. That will help improve on-time performance, reduce fuel burn and aircraft emissions, and mitigate noise.

Planes will also be able to land and take off closer together and more frequently, even in poor weather, because pilots will know the precise location of other aircraft and obstacles on the ground. Fewer planes will be diverted.

The overall new system is central to the FAA’s plans for coping with a forecast ed 50% growth in air traffic over the next decade.

Most other nations already have adopted satellite-based technology for guiding planes, or are heading in that direction. But the FAA has moved slowly.

The bill is "the best news that the airline industry ever had," Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said. "It will take us into a new era."

Despite a cost-cutting mood in Washington, the bill included funding for programs known as "Essential Air Service."

The advocacy group Citizens Against Government Waste called the subsidies "low hanging fruit, something all members of Congress should oppose."

More than $12.5 million in federal subsidies goes to encourage airlines to fly to 144 of the more remote communities in Alaska. Alaska’s congressional delegation has made the program a priority.

The FAA receives about $15 billion annually to operate air traffic control centers at more than 400 airports. The repeated delays were costing taxpayers money.

"These extensions cost the taxpayer millions of dollars, and you can’t run an agency that’s responsible for so much of our economy with these hiccup extensions," said John Mica, a Florida  Republican known for his transportation expertise.

By David Wilkening

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