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Statement of Need: Congress has tasked the FAA with creating the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) to accommodate the projected increase in demand for air traffic services. The current FAA surveillance system will not be able to maintain the same level of service as operations continue to grow.

Summary of the Legal Basis: This rulemaking is promulgated under the authority described in 49 USC subtitle VII, part A, subpart I, section 40103, Sovereignty and use of airspace, and subpart III, section 44701, General requirements. Under section 40103, the FAA is charged with prescribing regulations on the flight of aircraft, including regulations on safe altitudes, navigating, protecting, and identifying aircraft, and the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace. Under section 44701, the FAA is charged with promoting safe flight of civil aircraft in air commerce by prescribing regulations for practices, methods, and procedures the Administrator finds necessary for safety in air commerce.

Alternatives: The FAA considered the following alternatives before proceeding with this rulemaking: 1. Status quo. The FAA rejected the status quo alternative because the ground based radars tracking congested flyways and passing information among the control centers for the duration of the flights is becoming operationally obsolete. The current system is not efficient enough to accommodate the estimated increases in air traffic, which would result in mounting delays or limitations in service for many areas. 2. Multilateration. Multilateration is a separate type of secondary surveillance system that is not radar and has limited deployment in the U.S. At a minimum, multilateration requires upwards of four ground stations to deliver the same volume of coverage and integrity of information as ADS-B, due to the need to "triangulate" the aircraft's position. Multilateration meets the need for accurate surveillance but the total life cycle system costs is very high. 3. Exemption to small air carriers. This alternative would mean that small air carriers would rely on the status quo ground based radars tracking their flights and passing information among the control centers for the duration of the flights. This alternative would require compliance costs to continue for the commissioning of radar sites. Air traffic controller workload and training costs would increase having to employ two systems in tracking aircraft. Small entities may request ATC deviations prior to operating in the airspace affected by this proposal. It would also be contrary to our policy for one level of safety in part 121 operations to exclude certain operators simply because they are small entities. Thus, this alternative is not considered to be acceptable.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: The estimated cost of this proposed rule ranges from a low of $1.31 billion to a high of $7.51 billion. The estimated quantified potential benefits of the proposed rule are $8.11 billion and primarily result from fuel, operating cost and time savings from more efficient flights. On a present value basis costs range from $1.0 billion to $3.95 billion, with benefits estimated at $2.02 billion (using a 7% discount rate).

Risks: The demand for air travel is expected to double within the next 20 years. Current FAA projections are that by 2025, operations will grow to more than half a million departures and arrivals per year at approximately 16 additional airports. The present air traffic control system will be unable to handle this level of growth. Not only will the current method of handling traffic flow not be able to adapt to the highest volume and density for future operations, but the nature of the new growth may be problematic, as future aviation activity will be much more diverse than it is today. A shift of 2 percent of today's commercial passengers to very light jets that seat 4-6 passengers would result in triple the number of flights necessary to carry the same number of passengers. Furthermore, the challenges grow with the advent of other non-conventional aircraft, such as the UAS.