Airport Safety & Efficiency. It′s time for LOW-END Markets to voice their needs !

Having dedicated my entire career to a developing region – Latin America and worked for different multinational suppliers of air traffic management solutions, I have witnessed as the industry naturally searches for business opportunities, at the premium markets, which offer "high value per contract" – that′s a pretty natural trend of capitalism.?

If we just take a glance at technology areas such as RWY safety, Airside Management, Digital Visualization and so forth, it′s clear that highly advanced, complex and expensive solutions have been deployed at world′s busiest airports – no surprises, here.?

Nevertheless, ICAO recommended best practices for safe and efficient operations are applicable to both 1-RWY or 6-RWY airports which, in several cases, may experience similar level of operations complexity (ops/RWY/hour).

That helps to explain why, even being myself a Latin American ATM specialist, dedicated to a developing region, FAA′s justification for its SAI (Surface Awareness Initiative RFI) sounds so familiar to me.?

“Surface surveillance systems increase runway safety by providing to Air Traffic Control display of position, movement, and relative location of aircraft and ground vehicles. Additionally, they provide aural and visual safety alerts of potential runway collision situations. Currently, the FAA operates over 450 airport towers without surface surveillance systems. The FAA is specifically interested in learning more about cost-effective technological solutions that may be viable for deployment at airports without existing surface surveillance capabilities.”?

That leads me to wonder about a few questions:

• How many airports, operating with no surveillance systems in developing regions, experience frequent RWY incursion events, although ICAO recommendations state that “Air Traffic Controllers will be provided with short term conflicting alerting tools, that monitors movements on or near the runway and detects conflicts between an aircraft and another vehicle as well as runway incursion by intruders, with appropriate alerts being visualized on their display” ?
• How many airports, operating with no common-use surface surveillance platform in developing regions, experience surface congestions, although ICAO recommendations state that “surveillance services provide airport traffic situational awareness through the position, identification and tracking of aircraft and vehicles on the aerodrome surface, with? information being presented on air traffic controller and airport operator display” ?

It looks air transport planners in world′s low end markets, fail to remind major technology suppliers that, while it′s true they are unable to offer chances for "high value per contract” deals, there are important opportunities they may offer:

• Volume (huge unattended markets) – certainly beyond “450 airport towers without surveillance systems” of Unites States.
• Governmental support for national development & integration programs.?????

Less developed regions are not condemned to live forever, outside best practices, recommended for airport safety and efficiency.

All they need is to exercise wisdom and creativity in their relationship with the industry, with a view to promote its inherent areas of business opportunities, to make sure low-end markets do not remain unattended forever !