I would like to personally encourage you to attend this year’s ICNS Conference to participate in promoting the transformation of air traffic management into the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Our conference theme, Information Takes Flight, reflects the central importance to NextGen (and to SESAR in Europe) of information availability, especially by making aircraft nodes on the network.
Close integration of on-board and ground flight management functions is the key to implementing the NextGen flight operations that will create the benefits of fewer delays, increased route efficiency, lower fuel consumption, further reduction of environmental impact, and lower per-flight system operations costs.
The conference program provides up-to-date status of NextGen activities and discussion of the state of the art in technical development. Three plenary sessions, one each morning, feature key speakers from the Joint Planning and Development Office, the DoD, the FAA, NASA, airlines, general aviation, and industry. In the afternoons, four full sessions running in parallel each day present the details of programmatic and technical progress.
Mr. Fred Pease, the Executive Director of the DoD Policy Board on Federal Aviation, will give the keynote address the first morning. He will discuss the importance of NextGen for the multiple facets of aviation and highlight the value of expedient initial implementation.
We have a terrific venue at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center in Bethesda, MD. There are many restaurants and shops in the area, and the hotel is located next to the Metro stop.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Best regards,
Dr. Jere S. Meserole 2008
ICNS Conference Chair
The Boeing Company
