Originally Posted by
flensr
What off the shelf technology are you referring to? Which company or supplier has this ready to go? Do you have ANY idea of the mishap rate for these "off the shelf" systems you are talking about, or any concept of how much it costs to scale those systems? Do you understand the expense behind lofting a couple hundred more satcom birds or putting up a couple million ground transceivers to handle the necessary high bandwidth datalinks? KU won't handle it, not enough frequencies available. So add in the cost of a new satcom spectrum, waveform, and of course standards...
The barriers to this are enormous. Not saying it won't happen eventually, but... Really? "Off the shelf"? No way, not even close, unless you're talking about an operation limited to a handful of flights per day flying people who don't mind dying on routes over people on the ground who also don't mind dying.
The fact is, the military is already doing it. R and D already has taken place. That it the biggest cost. Any costs you have mentioned will be weighed against savings. The industry will defer some of those costs to the government in the form of ATC reform. Management will always view labor as an expense and not an asset. And the flying public could care less. As long as they Save a dollar on a ticket....