Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman said he is pleased a bill that clears the Senate today will invest in New Mexico's airport infrastructure and in the state's economy.

"The aviation industry, both commercial and private general aviation, is vital to promoting economic growth and development in our state," Bingaman said. "Last year, New Mexico's airports received over $31 million for airport improvement projects to upgrade facilities for both general aviation and commercial passenger service all across the state. These projects helped create hundreds of jobs in the construction industry in New Mexico," Bingaman said.

Bingaman voted against a measure that would have eliminated the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which helps 150 rural communities in 36 states retain commercial air service. Without EAS, many rural communities would have no commercial air service at all. New Mexico's has four EAS communities: Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Clovis and Silver City.

"New Mexico relies on commercial air service to help bring businesses and jobs to rural part of the state. I am pleased we were able to defeat a measure that would have terminated this crucial service," Bingaman said.

The bill also includes a provision introduced by Senator Tom Udall and Bingaman that authorizes a land exchange between Doña Ana County Airport and a private land owner. The land will is needed to allow the airport to build a new road.

The legislation will also accelerate the FAA's critical effort to modernize the nation's air traffic control system. Currently, the air traffic control system relies on a vast network of ground-based radars to monitor the position of each airplane. This system is universally recognized as being antiquated, inefficient, and increasingly unsafe.

The planned Next Generation Air Transportation System, known as "NextGen," will convert the air traffic control system from ground-based to one based on satellites and global positioning systems—similar to the GPS many of us have in cars. The GPS-based system will permit aircraft to be monitored far more precisely than currently and help eliminate congestion. When implemented, NextGen will improve safety, increase the efficiency of operations, reduce delays, save fuel, and help reduce emissions.