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Arlington, Va. - Congress and the administration must invest in a state-of-the-art air traffic control system to avoid a coming gridlock in the nation's aviation travel in a few short years, Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO John W. Douglass said. Leaders must also smooth out a frayed trade relationship with Europe and avoid a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived abuse of power, Douglass said. Speaking to about 300 representatives of the media, industry, and government at AIA's 40th Annual Year-End Review and Forecast Luncheon Wednesday, Douglass also said President Bush should build on a solid aerospace track record in his second term. "President Bush should be congratulated for developing a vision for aerospace in his first administration,'' Douglass said. "We plan to work closely with the administration to implement the vision in the second term.'' Douglass urged investment in the next-generation air traffic control system now in the planning stages. In addition to avoiding gridlock, the system would pull together disparate elements like weather from NOAA, Homeland Security operation screening and research, and the Department of Defense military air system. Using DoD technology can also help hold costs down, Douglass said. Douglass addressed the ongoing dispute between the U.S. and European Union over direct launch aid subsidies provided to Airbus to develop new airliners. While the U.S. filed a petition with the World Trade Organization over the issue, prompting a counterclaim, the two sides need to talk in good faith to come up with a negotiated agreement, Douglass said. "It is in no one's interest to have a trade war that would damage the global aerospace industry and hurt companies on both sides of the Atlantic,'' Douglass said. Congress should avoid the simplistic urge to pass new laws in response to the high-profile ethical abuses of a U.S. Air Force procurement official, Douglass said. Ethics laws in place today are adequate and work, he said, and the organizational problems in the Air Force that allowed the situation to occur are already being resolved. It would be a mistake to overreact and stymie the transfer of talent between the public and private sectors, Douglass said. Douglass also urged an increase in research and development funding for NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration, and continued support for the president's new space vision to explore the moon, Mars and beyond. --AIA--
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Contact: Matt Grimison, AIA
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