According to a special report from FlightGlobal.com, the United States is revolutionizing its air traffic management system to make itmore efficient, safer and greener. The plan for "NextGen" is under wayand the FAA is targeting 2018 as the date when operators will begin toreap its benefits.

The goal is asatellite-based air traffic control system that could cut flight delaysas much as 40 percent, reduce fuel use and aircraft noise, and save allparties millions of dollars.

The Dallas Morning News reports that the reality hasbeen two decades of setbacks and false starts as the effort has lacked therequired billions of dollars in federal funds and has faced a raft oftechnical hiccups.

As things stand,the biggest benefits of improved air traffic control won't be seenuntil at least 2018, and the entire project – costing as much as $40billion – may not be done until 2025.

Meanwhile, Southwest andother U.S. airlines have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to equiptheir planes with the right gear to synch up with new technology.They're waiting for the FAA to catch up and do what it's been promisingfor nearly 20 years.

Here's some more travel news you can use:

*  AirTran Airways will offer direct flights from Mitchell InternationalAirport in Milwaukee to Indianapolis and Pittsburgh beginning Oct. 6,the airline is to announce today.  AirTran also plans to add a daily flight to its Milwaukee-Denverschedule.

*  The founders of Hotels.com have announced the launch of their newest venture, getaroom.com.(Actually, it's a re-branding of the siteRoomValues.com.) The site offers non-published rateswithout keeping consumers in the dark about where they’ll be stayinglike other similar sites.  The problem with non-published rates is that they're, well, non-published – making them nearly impossible to obtain or leverage.

*  Spanish police briefly detained a drunk British man Wednesday who washanding out money to strangers at the airport at Palma de Mallorcaafter arriving on a flight from Manchester, police said.  The 50 year-old man laughed constantlyas he distributed the bills and did not seem aware of what he was doing.