Page 127 - Planning and Design of Airports

96 Airp o r t Pl anning

A Brief History of Air Traffic Management
The first attempt to set up rules for air traffic control was made by the
International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN), which was
under the direction of the League of Nations. The procedures which
the commission promulgated in July of 1922 were adopted by 14
countries. Although the United States was not a member of the
League of Nations, and therefore did not officially adopt the rules,
many of the procedures established by ICAN were used in the prom-
ulgation of air traffic procedures in the United States as well as in
most regions of the world.
Construction and operation of the airways system in the United
States prior to 1926 were controlled by the military and by the Post
Office Department. The formal entry of the federal government into
the regulation of air traffic came with the passage of the Air Commerce
Act of 1926 (Public Law 64-254). This act directed the Bureau of Air
Commerce to establish, maintain, and operate lighted civil airways.
At the present time the Federal Aviation Administration maintains
and operates the airways system of the United States.
The establishment of the International Civil Aviation Organi-
zation (ICAO) in 1944 helped to standardize recommended air
traffic control procedures internationally. Today, air traffic con-
trol in each country is operated either by its federal government
or by private corporations under governmental supervision and
regulations. Examples of international air traffic control organi-
zations include the Federal Aviation Administration in the United
States, National Air Traffic Services Ltd. (NATS) serving the
United Kingdom, NAV Canada in Canada, and Air Services Aus-
tralia serving the Australian continent. In addition, Eurocontrol,
an intergovernmental organization comprising 38 member states
within the European Union, coordinates, standardizes, and
assists in managing air traffic in the airspace over the European
continent.
The primary mission of the Federal Aviation Administration, as
well as its international counterparts, is to provide for safe and effi-
cient movement of aircraft throughout the airspace system. The pri-
mary function of the air traffic management system is to prevent col-
lisions between aircraft. As such, the FAA office of air traffic
management is made up of and responsible for a series of hierarchi-
cal control facilities, ground and satellite based navigational aides
and aircraft routing procedures, as well as a defined system of air
routes and airspace classifications. While much of the current air traf-
fic system is in many ways based on the original development of air
traffic control in the early twentieth century, it should be noted that
air traffic control policies are constantly changing as the most mod-
ern technologies are implemented to better manage increasing air
traffic volumes.