Airlines for America Calls on the U.S. Government to Safeguard GPS, the Backbone of NextGen

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Feb 08, 2012, 12:02 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, called for the development of a governmentwide policy to protect the aviation Global Positioning System (GPS) spectrum in order to avoid any future threat of spectrum interference.

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"GPS is critically important to the millions of customers who airlines fly every day, and is the heart of a multibillion dollar system to modernize the air navigation system," said A4A Senior Vice President for Safety, Security and Operations Tom Hendricks, who testified before the House Aviation Subcommittee. "The stakes are too high for passengers, shippers and communities that rely on air service to leave to chance our ability to utilize GPS to the greatest advantage."

A4A urged the government to develop its GPS policy in coordination with international, as well as domestic, authorities in order to reflect the importance of protecting the GPS spectrum throughout the world. In an encouraging first step toward a wider national policy, the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, on Jan. 13, stated that it intended to draft new GPS spectrum-interference standards.

ABOUT A4A

Annually, commercial aviation helps drive more than $1 trillion in U.S. economic activity and more than 10 million U.S. jobs. A4A airline members and their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic. For more information about the airline industry, visit www.airlines.org and follow us on Twitter @airlinesdotorg.

SOURCE Airlines for America