NextGen is vital to ensuring the National Airspace System (NAS) safely accommodates air traffic growth and new types of aircraft. It also supports aviation's essential role for Americans and the U.S. economy.

Improvements from new NextGen technologies, capabilities, and procedures deliver benefits in safety, efficiency, and capacity. The benefits graphic below highlights the total benefits measured from more than 20 NextGen capabilities through more than 200 implementations across the nation. Fuel savings also mean lower carbon dioxide emissions.

In addition to measured benefits calculated through FAA performance analysis, a recent independent Scientific Estimate examines broader system-wide impacts that result from the combined operation of multiple NextGen capabilities across the NAS.

* Per DOT guidance, the FAA values benefits using not only aircraft operating cost savings, but also passenger travel time savings.

Increase from 2024 to 2025

The benefits estimated from implemented NextGen programs increased from $12.4 billion in 2024 to $13.9 billion in 2025. The factors driving the increase were: 

• Another year of benefits accrual from previous implementations added $1.2 billion.
• Adjustments for inflation from 2024 to 2025 dollars contributed the remaining increase.

Year and Type

Of the estimated $13.9 billion in accrued benefits to the airlines and flying public, the graph below depicts benefits accrued each year from 2010 to 2025 by type of benefit.

NextGen continued to deliver benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic but at lower levels because of the drop in flights and congestion.

Many NextGen benefits result from improving a system under stress and experiencing delays. Early in the pandemic, airline flights sank to unprecedented low numbers, which resulted in dramatically reduced delays. NextGen capabilities are designed to improve the NAS when demand approaches system capacity limits. NextGen’s value is greater when demand is high, and as demand grows in the future, the value of NextGen programs will grow exponentially.

Cumulative Improvements

Communication, navigation, and surveillance are the sources for nearly $7.9 billion in benefits. Automation accounts for about $3.0 billion, and separation takes credit for an estimated $3.0 billion.

The chart above highlights NextGen benefits accrued by year and is segregated into three capability groups: communication, navigation, and surveillance; automation; and separation.

The chart below illustrates measured NextGen benefits reported by the FAA alongside a system-wide estimate derived from independent analysis of publicly available information.

Measured and Estimated NextGen Benefits Compared with Program Costs (2007–2025)

* Estimated benefits reflect independent analysis and are not official FAA benefit calculations.

Benefits measured after implementation continue to accumulate in subsequent years. The cumulative increases result from continued benefits from previous implementations plus new implementations.

Total achieved benefits measured thus far represent key implementations. Learn about achieved benefits by year and type or by domain of the capabilities measured, and capabilities the FAA measures as part of NextGen performance reporting.

Measurements

The following categories are measured to determine NextGen benefits:

• Gate departure delay
• Taxi-out time
• Throughput
• Arrival performance
• Flight time, including predictability
• Completion factor
• Fuel burn

Delay savings result from measured changes in throughput (measure of capacity) or shorter routes. Higher fuel savings derive from improved flight profiles. To compare before and after NextGen implementations, calculating these measures requires “normalization” for changes in demand, weather, and runway configurations.

Normalization for demand and agreeing on performance changes associated directly with NextGen implementations have been key successes for the JAT. With normalization, we can attribute performance improvements to NextGen’s capabilities.

As demand in a time period increases, so will the associated delay. We can estimate the delay associated with changes to levels of demand during the day and then compare performance to similar demand periods. 

During the pandemic, delays plummeted along with demand, but this change was clearly not driven by NextGen capabilities. Weather and runway configurations also affect delays. With NextGen, we have tools to improve capacity in lower ceilings and visibility, sometimes only in specific runway configurations. Some NextGen programs, like new Required Navigation Performance procedures, provide benefits even in low demand with shorter routes.

Continuing Benefits

Total achieved benefits measured thus far represent key implementations but are only a portion of the expected future benefits. Implemented capabilities will continue to produce benefits, as will the future deployment of full Data Comm services across the entire NAS. Full Data Comm services across the NAS, along with the Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM), will continue to increase these benefits. The FAA estimates that NextGen benefits from already implemented programs will drive $37B in benefits (FY25$) by 2040. Adding projections for Data Comm and TFDM brings the expected NextGen benefits to between $47B and $77B by 2040. This range is driven by low (14%) and high (31%) estimates of Terminal Area Forecast growth.

Future projected benefits are a function of savings associated with periods where traffic demand exceeds capacity. They are modeled using the System Wide Analysis Capability which measures delay differences associated with traffic growth. Additionally, when implemented benefits through 2025 are projected forward, the FAA estimates that the value of previously measured benefits will increase.

Additional background is available in A Scientific Estimate of Previously Unquantified NextGen Benefits (2008–2025).