This workshop was held June 6-8, 2007 at the Aspen Institute Wye River Conference Center in Queenstown, Md.

Air transportation demand decreases starting in late 2001 relieved the earlier pressure on the world-wide airspace system and there seemed to be some reduction in the urgency for taking action to solve the “aviation problem”. Recent demand increases have provided a strong reminder that air transportation demand is rapidly approaching the capacity of the systems on which it is based. The Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act of December 2003 created a public/private partnership to carry out a broad range of activities whose ultimate goal is the development of a U.S. Next Generation Air Transportation System. NextGen is intended to meet the air transportation needs of the U.S. in the 21st century — in particular, to accommodate growth in demand for air traffic services that may result in traffic volumes as large as two or three times today’s levels. In response, the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) was established to lead and coordinate the development of NextGen concepts and plans. The Europeans feel a similar urgency to drastically reform ATM systems and have established the Single European Sky initiative with goals similar to the JPDO.

This workshop focused specifically on scarce airport capacity. Most would agree that overall runway capacity is the principal factor constraining future U.S. air transportation demand growth. Thus, it is important that this resource be put to its best use. Historically, runway capacity has been formally allocated in only four U.S. airports (Chicago’s O’Hare — ORD, Washington’s Reagan National — DCA and two New York airports: LaGuardia — LGA and Kennedy — JFK) through the so-called “High-Density Rule” (HDR). In fact, this rule was rescinded in 2002 for ORD and for LGA in January of 2007. In anticipation of the expiration of the HDR at LGA, NEXTOR carried out a research project that investigated a variety of measures for controlling congestion in place of the HDR. Among those considered were market-based approaches. In August of 2006, the FAA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that addressed congestion management at LGA. Among other measures, it stipulated that the HDR slots be replaced with finite lifetime operating authorizations (OA’s) and also expressed the desire to explore the use of market mechanisms to reallocate OA’s after their expiration. This workshop considered future congestion management alternatives in light of the NPRM, the reaction of the aviation community to it as well as recent research on this problem.

NEXTOR’s conference and seminar series brings industry, academia, and government together to foster discussion on critical aviation operations issues. Through this series, NEXTOR seeks to enhance dialogue, promote information exchange and to channel expertise to advance aviation research and technology.