Jack,

A4A was briefed on realtime system optimization of daily flight operations to carrier business rules and objectives in 2008, back when they were still ATA.

Their position at the time was 'we as an organization can't recommend solutions, only our member airlines do that.'

I guess passing along or recommending 'best practices' were not then organizational objectives.

Perhaps not now, either. Just do as FAA proposes? Go along to get along with the regulator?

Then too, back in 2013, Aviation Week reported on value of including airline business objectives in what FAA was brewing as Multi-Center TMA and TBFM.

http://www.athgrp.com/AvWeekAttilaArticle2013_01_14.pdf

Sadly, no one at airlines or A4A appears to think their limited assets and resources, their asset and resource utilization and productivity, their operating margins, the wide variation in their flight by flight operational reliability, service delivery, and customer utility outcomes, and their retained customers and revenue, are either relevant or important to the BNATCS debate, or that an airline-informed BNATCS could play a roll in improving the outcomes for all constituents, not sure which.

- Bob

On 3/11/2026 11:44 AM, Jack Keady via Mifnet wrote:
Where is A4A in all this.i fault the airline group and I also fault the FAA for not doing more to give details and selling this innovation. Keady

Sent from the all new AOL app for Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aol.mobile.aolapp>

    On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 7:55, RWM via Mifnet
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Doug,

    It is possible that BNATCS could benefit FAA (it will clearly
    benefit its chosen vendors), but my point is that BNATCS as
    presently formulated, using the Administrator's own description,
    leaves most of the operational, efficiency, financial, and
    reliability benefits to FAA, controllers, airlines and their
    constituencies unharvested, on the table.

    That is the shame of the matter.

    - Bob Mann



    On 3/11/2026 10:34 AM, Doug Church wrote:
    Kind of amazing - and disappointing - that only threeĀ of us (me,
    Bob, Michael) are discussingĀ the issue of the proposal of the
    single most transformational modernization of our National
    Airspace System in our entire lifetimes.

    Where are the rest of you, Mifnet? Anyone else want to offer
    thoughts? There cannot just be three of us talking about this out
    of a vast audience of Mifnet participants/subscribers? Right? Am
    I the only one whoĀ sees the positives of what BNATCSĀ can do? Am I
    the only one sick and tired of the unacceptable status quo of
    crappy outdated equipment, unoptimized airspace, and zero
    modernization being allowed to continue in this NAS while the
    rest of the world passes us by and we lose our standing as the
    gold standard of ATC?

    As for Bob and Michael: If you're just going to say no to
    everything, predict failure for any DOT/FAA modernization
    attempts, and hold out for the airlines to finally do what you're
    asking them to do - well, OK then. I wish you well.

    -Doug

    On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 10:24 AM RWM--- via Mifnet
    <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

        That could benefit FAA, but leaves most of the benefits to
        FAA, controllers, airlines and their constituencies
        unharvested, on the table.

        A ā€˜more precise’ FAA trombone slide of delays is not the best
        outcome FAA or airlines could achieve, on their own behalf,
        as well as for their customers, investors, and employees.

        Other examples of FAA ā€˜more precise’ include ā€˜metropolitan
        airspace realignment’ and RNP procedures that demonstrably
        add FAA waypoints, flying minutes and fuel burn — the
        antithesis of what was promoted as ā€˜improvements’.

        Be careful what you ask for, lest you get it. Be careful what
        you leave on the table, too.

        - Bob Mann

        image0.jpeg


        On Mar 11, 2026, at 10:10, Doug Church via Mifnet
        <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
        wrote:

        
        RE: "The fact is that there is no way that FAA can make an
        airline efficient, let alone a single aircraft. Airlines
        can, ATC can’t."

        Well, Michael, we may have found something we can agree on
        in this discussion.

        But the FAA can make the airspace efficient. BNATCS is about
        expanding the capacity of the airspace to accommodate
        increased future traffic demands and new entrants. Bedford
        wants separation tightened up. He said it himself yesterday:
        "If we want to create more capacity, reducing separation
        standards and going to trajectory flying is the only way to
        do that. We need to go from imprecise to precise.ā€

        -Doug




        On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 9:45 PM [email protected]
        <mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]
        <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

            Doug,

            The source is me. But also, Bedford said it himself,
            ā€œ/We’ll tell you where we want you … and we’ll tell you
            where we want you to be to hit that top of descent/ā€.
            These should and must be airline/user decisions.

            Next, show me in the BNATCS plan how each airline/user
            inputs their business goals for each individual aircraft
            or how individual pilots are allowed to manage their
            arrival time enroute?

            The fact is that there is no way that FAA can make an
            airline efficient, let alone a single aircraft. Airlines
            can, ATC can’t.

            Finally, remember, as Captain Tom Hendricls said
            (Confessions of an Attilaā„¢ Doubter
            
<https://greenlandings.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Delta-Attila-CheckList-Article-2007-09.pdf>),
            ā€œ/It’s Not About You … It’s About an Aircraft You Don’t
            See (Or Hear) ... What is transparent to a crew faced
            with situations like these is the recovery of unused
            slots in the queue that might be fifteen aircraft ahead
            of or behind you (and possibly on a different frequency)/ā€.

            Michael

            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

            R. Michael Baiada

            cell - (303) 521-6047

            [email protected]
            <mailto:[email protected]>

            *From:*Doug Church <[email protected]
            <mailto:[email protected]>>
            *Sent:* Tuesday, March 10, 2026 17:52
            *To:* [email protected]
            <mailto:[email protected]>
            *Cc:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
            *Subject:* Re: [Mifnet šŸ›°75637] Re: Continuous descent
            approaches

            Re: ā€œBNATCS also continues to leave out the
            airlines/users and pilots.ā€

            Says who? Source?

            -Doug

            On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 7:03 PM ATHGroup--- via Mifnet
            <[email protected]
            <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

                Doug,

                Yes, airlines are onboard with BNATCS without
                thinking through the implications.

                While BNATCS is great for equipment replacement
                (which is needed), BNATCS will further
                institutionalize ATC’s control over the movement of
                the airline’s/user’s aircraft, which will haunt the
                airline/user ā€œ/day of/ā€ operation for decades to
                come. With BNATCS, airlines can forget about any
                chance of airline ā€œ/day of/ā€ Operational Excellence.

                ā€œ/Administrator Bedford comes straight from running
                an airline/ā€ is not an attribute, because Bedford is
                unnecessarily continuing the airline’s 1980s ā€œ/ATC
                controls everything and ATC is the only answer/ā€
                mentality that costs individual large airlines over
                $5 Billion annually.Ā  We need new thinking.

                BNATCS also continues to leave out the
                airlines/users and pilots, which will continue ATC’s
                unnecessarily high costs across aviation. I recently
                did a comparison of an Airline Centric Flow Manage
                versus the ATC Flow Manage (TBFM) that might be of
                interest (Airline Centric vs. ATC Centric Flow
                Manager
                
<https://greenlandings.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Airline-Centric-Flow-Manger-vs.-TBFM-2025-02.pdf>,
                2025-02).

                As I said, airlines/users need to speak up and tell
                ATC what they want, instead of simply accepting.

                Finally, there is an FAA validated solution that
                reduces costs (FAA and airlines), reduces delays,
                improves runway throughput, etc. The only downside
                is that this is not what ATC and airlines have done
                for the last 50 years. Oh wait, there is no downside.

                *Benefits of Systems Thinking*

                <image001.png>

                *Costs of Current Thinking*

                <image002.png>

                Michael

                xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

                R. Michael Baiada

                cell - (303) 521-6047

                [email protected]
                <mailto:[email protected]>

                *From:*Doug Church via Mifnet
                <[email protected]
                <mailto:[email protected]>>
                *Sent:* Tuesday, March 10, 2026 14:31
                *To:* [email protected]
                <mailto:[email protected]>
                *Cc:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>; Doug
                Church <[email protected]
                <mailto:[email protected]>>
                *Subject:* [Mifnet šŸ›°75635] Re: Continuous descent
                approaches

                Bob,

                I am afraid I don’t really understand what you’re
                saying here, nor do I understand why you are dooming
                BNATCS to failure before it even gets going.

                The airlines are fully onboard with BNATCS because
                it will increase reliability and predictability and
                reduce delays. Administrator Bedford comes straight
                from running an airline. This plan for airspace
                optimization and trajectory based ops will address
                precisely what you and Michael are advocating for.

                -Doug

                On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 5:24 PM RWM--- via Mifnet
                <[email protected]
                <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

                    ā€˜ā€œWe’ll tell you where we want you to be in
                    three dimensions … and we’ll tell you where we
                    want you to be to hit that top of descent mark
                    to [meet] the constraints of the runway, not the
                    airspace itself,ā€ said Bedford in recent remarks
                    at the Aero Club of Washington.’

                    Doug,

                    These RTAs are continuous system optimization
                    calls (and they are in 4 dimensions, not 3) best
                    made by airlines, using their own real time
                    information, for their own accounts,
                    individually, or shipped to and honest-brokered
                    by FAA in the most complex multi-carrier
                    airspace, enroute and terminal, airborne and
                    surface.

                    FAA does not have, nor does it propose to
                    acquire and use airlines’ real-time resource
                    information, business objectives and
                    constraints, in order to system optimize and
                    improve airline, customer, employee and investor
                    outcomes.

                    Attempting to resolve the root cause drivers of
                    the need for ATC intervention, infrastructure,
                    and staffing without considering real time
                    airline resource status, business objectives and
                    constraints is among the easily foreseeable
                    reasons why BNATCS will be yet another
                    expensive, late, failure out of the gate, and
                    fail to resolve airline delays.

                    - Bob Mann

                        On Mar 10, 2026, at 16:42, Doug Church via
                        Mifnet <[email protected]
                        <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

                        ā€œWe’ll tell you where we want you to be in
                        three dimensions … and we’ll tell you where
                        we want you to be to hit that top of descent
                        mark to [meet] the constraints of the
                        runway, not the airspace itself,ā€ said
                        Bedford in recent remarks at the Aero Club
                        of Washington.

                    
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