GRA has provided economic and regulatory analysis to the FAA for over four decades. The firm has supported the Office of Aviation Policy andPlans in a series of task order contracts that have been awarded competitively. These contracts have been multi-year and have involved a large number of work orders in diverse study areas.
GRA has provided economic counsel to the FAA on numerous issues including:
- Creation of methodologies and models to allocate FAA costs to users of the National Airspace System
- Development of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) regulatory standards and UAS fleet size forecasts
- New mechanisms for financing commercial airports in the United States
- Airport congestion, slot allocation and proposals to introduce market-based means to deal with capacity, delays and related issues
- Comprehensive studies of the commercial airline pilot and maintenance workforces, including forecasts of future supply and demand
- Establishing economic criteria and methods for regulatory and investment decision-making, including the development of public-facing guidance documents
- The economic effects of regulatory initiatives, including equipage for NextGen, airport privatization and airport investment analysis
- Federal aviation regulations governing flight crew member duty and rest requirements, pilot retirement age, the Washington, DC Special Flight Rules Area and air charter broker operations
GRA has also provided strategic planning support and analysis for multiple FAA offices.
In addition to its work with the FAA, GRA has prepared economic and regulatory evaluations for the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Transportation Security Administration. In all of these assignments, GRA has integrated its working knowledge of the industry with the application of sophisticated economic tools to help government agencies reach regulatory and investment decisions.