NextGen has modernized air traffic infrastructure in communications, navigation, surveillance, automation, and information management.
The use of voice communication is labor and time intensive and will limit the ability of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to effectively meet future traffic demand in the United States.
NexCom will be an eventual replacement for the existing Future Air Navigation System that is currently used primarily by transoceanic commercial airliners.
As a result, the resources required to provide air traffic management service per aircraft operation will decrease.
The use of real-time aircraft data by ground systems to plot 4-dimensional trajectories (lateral and vertical navigation, ground speed and longitudinal navigation), and perform conformance management, will shift air traffic operations from minute-by-minute tactical control, to more predictable and planned strategic traffic management.