Working Groups

In the Spring of 2007, JPDO Director Charles Leader proposed an office-wide realignment to refocus from long-term planning to facilitating near-term implementation of NextGen.  Part of this realignment is the transfer from the original eight Integrated Product Teams to nine Working Groups.  These are Aircraft, Air Navigation Services, Airport, Environment, Global Harmonization, Safety, Security, Net-Centric Operations, and Weather. 

The structural change is intended to create teams capable of solving problems and making fact-based recommendations.  Recommendations that come from Working Groups should be capable of being integrated into NextGen, or changing the course of NextGen in critical ways.

Each Working Group will have a similar structure.  At the core will be an Executive
Committee (EC), jointly led by one government and one industry co-chair.  These co-chairs will agree to commit up to 50% of their time to NextGen activities, with an average of three-to-four days a month at the JPDO office.  The EC is intended to be a relatively small group representing the interests of all interested communities. 

Working under the EC will be standing committees and study teams.  Standing committees will be formed around areas of long-term focus and ongoing tasks.  In contrast, study teams will be formed based on a specific requirement with a short-term task.  Each study team is expected to disband once its task is completed. 

Continuity and oversight of each Working Group will be supported by a defined mission statement, terms of reference, and Working Group structure, all set forth in a document.  Working Groups will use NextGen planning documents, e.g., Concept of Operations, Enterprise Architecture, and Integrated Work Plan, to guide their activities.

One important aspect of the new Working Group structure is interaction among standing committees and study teams of the various groups.  Many tasks within NextGen will require expertise from different Working Groups.  The new structure will help meet this need by allowing various standing committees and study teams to pull from the large pool of aviation experts interested in NextGen.  For example, a study team working on aircraft safety might be comprised of members of the Aircraft, Safety, and Global Harmonization Working Groups. 

For more information on Working Groups, please click here.