Airlines based in the United States could save as much as $10 billion a year in fuel costs by 2025 if the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the agency of the United States Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the US, upgrades air-traffic control from the radar-based system to a satellite-based one.

A study conducted by the new agency Associated Press (AP) has said that the “proposed upgrading of the air-traffic control system has languished in the planning stages for more than a decade” and that the aviation system in the United States “currently relies on a World War II-era air traffic network that often forces planes to take longer, zigzagging routes that cost carriers billions of dollars in wasted fuel.”

“The new system,” the news agency said, “has been slow to be put into place, thanks to funding delays, the complexities of the switchover, and, of course, politics.”

The current system of air-traffic control relies on radar technology that dates back to World War II. In this system, air-traffic controllers on the ground serve as pilots’ eyes, telling them where other planes are and when it is safe to turn. In the radar-based system, airborne planes must stay within the range of the radars to appear on a controller’s screen – which means that the planes have to fly in zigzag patterns in order to stay above the radars. This, in turn, wastes time and fuel. Besides, it could take over 10 seconds for radars to home in on an aircraft, so controllers separate aircraft by miles by way of precaution – resulting in staggering takeoffs and landings.

In contrast, the satellite-based system, or the NextGen system, would use the global positioning system (GPS) technology, which is already used in cars and cellphones. Since the GPS-equipped planes would receive and transmit signals, the pilots would not have to depend so heavily on air-traffic controllers and would be able to view the location of the other planes by looking at a monitor in the cockpit. In addition, since satellites would cover all airspace, planes would not have to zigzag to stay within range. Which means planes that could fly straight as well as land and take off closer together without risking safety.

The Associated Press, which analysed data available with the US Federal Aviation Administration and the US airline industry, found that upgrading of the air-traffic control system would cost $35 billion.

The NextGen system, its supporters claim, would triple air traffic capacity, reduce delays by at least half, improve safety, and reduce emissions of greenhouse-gases.

The Federal Aviation Administration has already said that it does not expect the satellite-based air-traffic control system to be fully operational until the 2020s. However, AP notes in its report: “GPS is already used in many parts of the aviation world. Many European countries, China and even Mongolia have established some GPS networks or plan to do so soon.”

“As for cost,” the report adds, “the United Stares-based airlines are expected to eventually contribute about $15 billion toward the $35 billion project. And, they will have to spend about $200,000 per plane as they equip their fleets with GPS. But most carriers – which are otherwise enthusiastic about NextGen – are reluctant to retrofit planes years, maybe decades, before the satellite network is fully operational.”

The Associate Press quoted Robert Poole, an aviation expert with the Reason Foundation, the Los Angles-based non-profit organisation dedicated to individual liberty, limited government, and advancing free minds and free markets, as remarking: “As for NextGen’s progress, ‘slow’ seems to be the buzzword. I just think it’s very unlikely to be done in anything like the time frame and the budget now projected. And, that will be a tragedy for aviation.”