Going Mainstream - GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones - page 129

worth of traditional navigation equipment. 47 Continental Airlines in 1993 was
the first carrier to seek faa approval for gps-only approaches into Aspen and
Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where weather conditions often forced cancel-
ation of a quarter of the airline's scheduled flights or diversions to alternate
airports. 48 The airline calculated that its investment in Honeywell flight man-
agement systems with raim- enabled gps equipment for its regional jets would
achieve payback in less than one year. 49 For Honeywell, it was the first sale of
the system to a regional carrier—a large potential market; for the faa , the early
success fueled hopes that the new technology could help contain the rising
costs of extensive ground-based instrument landing systems and even extend
precision approaches to airports that lacked them. 50 The total number of air-
ports and landing areas of all types in the nation grew by 15 percent from 1980
to 1990, when there were 17,490 facilities. 51 By 1994, there were 853 more. 52
From the time Congress deregulated the airline industry in 1978, the number
of passengers boarding aircraft rose 270 percent to about 465 million in 1990. 53
That figure surpassed 528 million by 1994, driven by fare wars that erupted in
1992. 54 As major carriers abandoned smaller cities in favor of the hub-and-
spoke system, smaller regional carriers moved in. These commuter airlines
strained the faa's inspection regime, accidents among them spiked, and the
gao issued a report that prompted the faa to hire more inspectors and refo-
cus its attention on regional carriers. 55 Despite increased volume, airline travel
became a commodity with razor-thin or zero profits, forcing carriers to cut
costs and achieve greater efficiencies wherever possible. 56
A Continental executive, testifying before the House Subcommittee on Tech-
nology, Environment, and Aviation in March 1994, estimated that gps navi-
gation would allow his company to capture $1.9 million annually in revenue
otherwise lost due to weather-related flight cancellations. 57 Beyond fewer can-
cellations, he said, gps navigation could save the airline industry $5 billion
annually through reduced delays and more direct routing. 58 With that figure
in mind, and citing projected industry-wide spending of $500 million to $740
million on new gps-enabled avionics, he urged the government to speed devel-
opment of the faa's proposed Wide Area Augmentation System. 59 faa asso-
ciate administrator Martin Pozesky told the same subcommittee that his agency
planned within months to authorize privately owned local-area dgps systems
at airports to provide precision approaches under Category I weather condi-
tions. 60 Category I instrument landings require a pilot to be able to see the run-
way well enough to decide whether to land at a range of at least 1,800 feet and