Report questions benefits of US$4.5b air traffic system

[WASHINGTON] The US$4.5 billion programme underpinning a new US air traffic system is providing little benefit as not enough planes are equipped to use the technology, a government audit says.

The costs of one of the key elements of NextGen, the Federal Aviation Administration's suite of technology to modernise aircraft tracking, exceed its benefits by as much as US$588 million, the Transportation Department's inspector general said in a report.

NextGen has been plagued by delays and low usage as the FAA tries to move airlines to a system based on global positioning satellite navigation to create more accurate flight tracks. FAA computers displaying aircraft position can't use the new system and fewer than 10 per cent of aircraft have installed the technology, it says.