The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is rolling out new airfield surveillance systems to minimize the risk of close calls between aircraft on the runway.
Austin-Bergstrom, Indianapolis, Nashville and Dallas Love will be the first airports to receive the surface awareness initiative (SAI) system, which “will reduce the risk of runway incursions by improving air traffic controllers’ situational awareness,” the FAA said on Monday.
The system will be implemented at the four airports by July and will be added to “scores of other airports” by the end of 2025.
The technology is both cost-effective and “provides controllers with timely and accurate depictions of aircraft and vehicles on the entire airfield in all weather conditions,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said.
The agency said that quickly developing and deploying such technology is part of its effort to make runways safer after a string of close calls that occurred in early 2023, including incidents involving aircraft at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, in Austin, Texas, and off the coast of Hawaii.
In February 2023, then acting Administrator Billy Nolen created a safety review team to examine the reliability of the nation’s air traffic system.
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