REMARKS FOR HONORABLE MARY PETERS SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION

Sept. 27, 2007

The following information was released by the U.S. Department of Transportation:

Thank you, Ed (Bolen, President of NBAA), for that kind introduction, and congratulations to NBAA on your 60th Anniversary! I understand we're also celebrating Georgia's centennial of flight.

Even as we commemorate these milestones, we are at the gateway of a new chapter in aviation history. I hope it will open onto a future as filled with promise as the one Ben Epps envisioned when he took off over that cow pasture near Athens one hundred years ago a future of innovation and expanding freedom as technology opens new opportunities and aviation propels our economy to new heights.

There certainly is a lot to be excited about in the business aviation community.

Demand for business aircraft has never been higher. After a banner year in 2006, new jet sales in 2007 are approaching the one thousand mark. Meanwhile eager buyers are snatching up used planes so fast they barely hit the market.

The first new very light jets are rolling off the line, and orders keep pouring in. Enterprising companies are developing "air taxi" services based on this exciting new aircraft type. Fractional ownership and other creative business models also are expanding options in the world of business aviation.

All these trends point to air travel becoming more convenient and accessible, expanding Americans' freedom to travel the country.

We could be on the verge of the greatest revolution in travel since the Interstate Highway System. Except for one thing America is fast reaching the limits of our current aviation system.

Already, dated systems are straining to keep pace with today's air traffic. Last year was the worst year on record for flight delays, and this summer was a traveler's nightmare.

The freedom that Ben Epps and other early aviators knew when they took to the skies has been replaced by frustration felt by weary travelers stranded for hours on the runway missing connections, missing meetings, missing out on a child's first pitch or solo performance.

It is clear that to ensure freedom, convenience, and reliability in our skies, we must bring our aviation system into the 21st Century. President Bush made a point of stressing the importance of modernizing America's aviation system when I was sworn in as Secretary of Transportation last October.

Like the President, every business person in this room knows how important technology is to maintaining a competitive edge. You wouldn't expect your employees to operate today's incredibly complex systems with outdated technology, nor should our air traffic controllers.

Yet I remember visiting the TRACON at the Pensacola Airport shortly after Hurricane Ivan. Two impressions stand out in my mind.

The first was the tremendous damage done by the storm.

The second was that the equipment looked like something that was used to guide the Beatles during their first trip to America.

The planes of that bygone era have given way to Dreamliners and microjets. But the basic design of the technology we use to manage air traffic has not changed fundamentally since I walked onto the tarmac to board my first airplane, just after graduating from high school.

We still rely on ground-based radar systems to track planes in the sky, and our controllers still rely on voice communications to get information to pilots.

We must transform the way we move air traffic with technology fit for this century, not the last. The cornerstone of the transformation I am talking about is NextGen, the Next Generation Air Transportation System initiative.

Replacing our outdated air traffic control architecture with state-of-the art satellite-based navigation can dramatically improve the way America flies enabling better use of our airspace, better use of our airports, and greater safety, security, and freedom for Americans who travel for business or pleasure.

Business aviation is already making investments in advanced avionics you will need to reap NextGen's benefits in your aircraft. We know you are eager to get a return on your investment. Imagine what it will mean when you can take full advantage of technologies that allow pilots to have a real-time view in their cockpits of the airspace and aircraft around them, that save time and fuel by enabling pilots to choose the most efficient course, and that dynamically network pilots with other pilots and controllers to minimize delays and maximize use of the airspace.

Business aviation today is a strong, fast-growing industry. We absolutely want to keep it that way. But the industry will atrophy if airspace becomes too tight, airports too crowded, and runways too busy for you to visit your business when needed.

There is no time to waste. Estimates are that, by 2022, congestion across our skies will cost this nation $22 billion each year in lost economic activity. That number grows to over $40 billion annually by 2033 if we do not act. That is your bottom line taking a hit.

To head off these consequences, real reform must be part of the FAA reauthorization when it comes to the President's desk.

We need greater freedom to allow the market to work to reduce delays in the air and on the ground, whether it is allocating space at constrained airports that simply have no place to grow, or allocating funding to services most in demand.

And I am very concerned that the bill passed by the House of Representatives last Thursday fails to deliver a cost-based financing structure for the FAA. Without a more direct link between the services that the FAA provides and the costs paid by our customers, it is politicians in Washington not users like you who are going to decide how the money is spent.

I am going to be honest with you, unless we take advantage of this opportunity to put a more certain funding mechanism in place, it is unlikely that the FAA will be able to make the move to NextGen in a timely and cost-effective manner.

This is not about being pro-GA or anti-GA. This is about fixing a financial model that is simply incapable of addressing delays as currently constructed.

Without fundamental change, we are guaranteeing worse congestion and more inconvenience for all travelers, including the business and general aviation community.

In fact, without fundamental change, the future of general aviation travel itself is at risk, as are all the companies that depend on this marketplace.

This is not a time for special interests. This is a time to appreciate the seriousness of our problem and come together for the good of the people on a common set of solutions to address a crisis.

Ultimately, the House, Senate, the Administration and yes, you, the users of the system will have to agree on what is right for the FAA and fair for the aviation community.

The clock is ticking. We are five short days from the end of the fiscal year, when the current authorization for the FAA and its funding expire.

We absolutely cannot afford the kind of delay we lived through with the surface transportation reauthorization when I was Federal Highway Administrator. It took twelve extensions, and the final bill was almost two years late when it finally made it to the President's desk.

In aviation, extensions will translate into flight delays, uncertainty for travelers, and gridlock in the world's largest air traffic network.

Aviation has come a long way since Ben Epps set out on that little plane with wheels from his bicycle shop and wings stitched together on his mother's sewing machine. Ben didn't have to worry about crowded runways or crowded skies. There were only a handful of airplanes and aviators in the entire country or the world, for that matter.

A century later, more than 84,000 planes take off across America every day, over half of them general aviation flights.

And tomorrow' That's up to us.

Let's work together and get a final aviation bill in place with a funding model that delivers NextGen and keeps U.S. aviation, including the GA community, the most vibrant system in the world.

Thank you.

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