Satisfaction Study, which revealed that passengers currently are happier with airline service than they have been in years. The timing of the on-time and consumer satisfaction reports offered ammunition to critics of the Obama administration. "I'm amazed that the DOT would propose such an intrusive and micromanaging set of regulations, at a time when J.D. Power and others are reporting higher levels of customer satisfaction with airline service," said Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation.

The recent letter from the American Association of Airport Executives failed to mention that airport tax revenue has grown considerably despite a decline in departures during the previous decade. Congress allows airports to impose a tax on airline passengers called a passenger facility charge (PFC) — now set at $4.50 per passenger. In 2009, airports collected $2.5 billion in PFCs on top of more than $20 billion in passenger and airline related revenues. And that was on top of $1.1 billion in Recovery Act funds approved by Congress. No wonder airports

FAA opened a NextGen Integration and Evaluation Capability (NIEC) display facility June 8 at its William J. Hughes Technical Center at Atlantic City International airport. The NIEC is a research platform where scientists will use simulation to explore, integrate and evaluate NextGen concepts, including area navigation (RNAV), trajectory-based operations, flying unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the national airspace system (NAS), and more. The NIEC display area compliments existing facilities and equipment at the Technical Center. The NIEC uses existing ATC operating systems and highfidelity, real-time simulation to create an integrated environment that can be tailored for NextGen research and evaluation. Its ability to combine existing systems with future technologies and capabilities means the NIEC will contribute significantly to the transition to NextGen, says the FAA. The complex features an air traffic control simulation area, a cockpit simulator, an unmanned aircraft system suite, a simulated tower cab interior and a multi-purpose display area, which can show weather and traffic management data, operate as a simulation monitoring station or simulate an airline operations center. Each NIEC component mirrors an equivalent element of the future NextGen "gate-to-gate" spectrum.

From the way airplanes come in to land to the time they spend circling airports or sitting on the ground waiting for slots on the runway, millions of dollars and hours are frittered away as pilots work with an air traffic control system set up more than half a century ago. For some fliers in the Jacksonville area and around about half a dozen other U.S. airports, the system is in the process of becoming more efficient as the Federal Aviation Administration moves to a new form of air traffic control, one that has satellite-based positioning data at its heart. In May, the equipment forming the base of the new system was rolled out around the First Coast, one of the first places in the nation to get the equipment needed for the change. The system will also transmit that information, as well as things like weather data, to other aircraft in the area. Other sites that have the beginnings of the system include Juneau, Alaska; Louisville, Ky.; Philadelphia; and the Gulf of Mexico.

Just a little more than six months have passed since that cold December day when the Boeing Co.'s first 787 barreled down the runway for its maiden flight. Since then, the 787 has gone a long ways — literally. The program reached 1,000 hours in flight last Wednesday. But it still has much to do before Boeing can make its first 787 delivery by year's end. Boeing's first 787

took its maiden flight from Everett's Paine Field on Dec. 15 after more than two years of delays. Since then, Boeing has added four 787s to flight testing, including the first with General Electric GEnX engines last week, for a total of five 787s flying. Altogether the fleet has logged roughly 1,000 flight hours in 300 flights and visited a dozen locations including Eglin Air Force Base in Florida; Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport; Glasgow Industrial Airport in Montana.