FAA Forecast Sees Continued, Steady Growth in Air Travel Agency and Industry Priorities in Place to Meet Demand

Federal Aviation Administration
Source: motionvfx

FAA Forecast Sees Continued, Steady Growth in Air Travel Agency and Industry Priorities in Place to Meet Demand

Source: motionvfx
Source: motionvfx

“The improving economy continues to bode well for the health of the U.S air transportation system,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “The FAA and industry are continuing to deploy NextGen technologies and procedures to ensure that the nation’s aviation system can safely and efficiently meet our growing airspace demands.”

The FAA Aerospace Forecast Fiscal Years 2015 to 2035 projects that the RPM (Revenue Passenger Miles) growth for U.S. air carriers will average 2.5 percent per year over the 20-year forecast. The average percentage of seats filled in commercial passenger aircraft is called the Load Factor. The report concluded that U.S. air carrier Load Factors were an estimated 83.4 percent in 2014. They are projected to grow to 84.2 percent by 2035.

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The U.S. airlines served an estimated 756.3 million passengers in 2014. That is by by 2.3 percent from the 2013 level. The FAA forecast projects passenger growth to average 2.0 percent per year. Which is reaching one billion passengers in 2029 and 1.14 billion by 2035.

Other important data, which illustrates the growing demands on our nation’s airspace system, is air cargo traffic. One ton of cargo flown one mile – as measured by Revenue Ton Miles (RTM’s) – is expected to grow to 72.6 billion by 2035 at an average annual growth rate of 3.6 percent. during the forecast period.

To help the FAA and the aerospace system better prepare for the forecasted growth and future changes, the FAA and industry are working together to implement the NextGen Priorities Joint Implementation Plan. Under the plan, the agency and industry share responsibility to meet specific milestones, locations, timelines and metrics for “high priority, high readiness” NextGen initiatives.

These initiatives include Multiple Runway Operations; Performance Based Navigation using satellites to move aircraft more quickly form point “A” to point “B” and improve Surface and Data Communications.

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