On the recordMarch 11, 2010
a primary emphasis I have put into this Federal aviation bill over the last number of years is modernizing our air traffic control system. I have heard myself talk about it so much that I am tired of listening to myself. But, on the other hand, I am not sure other people have heard it enough, it is so important. One way of explaining it is that most cars use a more sophisticated global positioning system than do our air carriers, our legacy airlines. That is kind of pathetic and it has to end. The only way we can do that is by modernizing the air traffic control system. It is doable. There is money in the bill to do it on an annual basis. It should be completed by the year 2025. In fact, it has already begun. In one of the Gulf States, it is completed and they are using it. Mongolia is using it, and we just would think it is not too much to ask to catch up to Mongolia on air traffic control. We have a very safe air system, but it is not safe enough. By that I mean we move 30,000 flights a day in America. More than half of all the air traffic in the world is American. Nearly 700 million people per year use our airplanes. So how you position airplanes and how you guide them and how they know where they are and where they are going and how they can most quickly and safely get there is very important. The FAA's recent forecasts say there will be probably a 50-percent increase in the foreseeable future. That will be well over 1 billion passengers per year.
