Enhancing Capacity
When constraints in en route airspace and the airspace surrounding U.S. airports began to result in flight delays and schedule disruptions, FAA began to look for immediate solutions while continuing NextGen activities. To improve capacity, FAA began implementing a number of new concepts. The Required Navigation Performance (RNP) concept, for example, would take advantage of new onboard technologies for precision guidance to help transition the NAS from reliance on airways running over ground-based navigation aids to a point-to-point navigation concept. FAA also implemented the use of Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM), which reduced the minimum vertical separation between aircraft from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet for all properly equipped aircraft flying between 29,000 feet and 41,000 feet. This increased the routes and altitudes available and allowed more efficient routings that would save time and fuel.