After the tourism industry rebounded from the recession caused by the attacks, the higher levels of airport traffic further demonstrated the strain on these new elevated security procedures.
The SATS concept was first articulated by that name in the 1997 presentation by NASA at the Oshkosh Air Venture Convention, "Life After Airliners."
The SATS concept emerged from the work of the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) Alliance.
The greatest barriers were perceived to be a poor safety record for small aircraft operating from general aviation airports, restricted airspace capacity, and weather-related complications to the expanded use of small aircraft and community airports for public transportation.
The SATS Project (2001-2006), conducted by NASA and partners in the National Consortium for Aviation Mobility (NCAM), demonstrated the technical capabilities' viability in the following four areas: