U.S., Mexico, Canada Ink NextGen Agreement

The United States signed a trilateral agreement with Canada and Mexico to implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System, the FAA said. In a meeting in Quebec last week, the three nations agreed to harmonize efforts on technologies such as automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast and required navigation. “If there’s one thing on which we all agree it’s that we need to modernize and transform our aviation system. The status quo simply will not suffice. We know that more than a billion passengers are headed our way. With our system stretched thin as it is in terms of capacity and efficiency we must find a better way to operate a better way to do business,” FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said. NextGen is “the perfect meld of technology, policy, plans and procedures to accommodate the swell in traffic that’s headed our way,” Blakey said.