Economic Viability of NASA's Next-Generation Aviation Paradigm: A Summary of Research Findings

This paper summarizes several years of research which considered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's assertion that the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) will be an economical alternative to automobile and airline travel, when considering the value of travelers' time. Performance was studied in the corporate aviation environment, using NASA's metric for cost effectiveness. Cost, cost effectiveness, and the sensitivity of cost effectiveness to key independent variables were examined. Analyses shed favorable light on NASA's premise.