Before he was elected to Congress, John Swigert made history hundreds of miles above the Capitol dome. An astronaut on Apollo 13, he uttered the famous phrase, “Houston, we’ve got a problem.”

That was 38 years ago.

While he was talking about the ill-fated module, his words could easily describe the state of aviation in 2008.

Delays remain a problem in key areas. Fuel prices set a high-water mark with each passing day. Service is being cut, and passengers are feeling the heat from all sides.

Yes, we’ve got a problem.

While the FAA doesn’t control the price of jet fuel, there is something we can and are doing about the delays. The solution lies in an entirely new approach to air traffic control.  We need to move away from the ground-based radar of the past and into the era that brought us the same kind of GPS service that’s now sitting on your dashboard.

Satellite-based technologies are at the heart of NextGen, the FAA’s plan to transform air traffic control. For example, a GPS-based technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) gives real-time cockpit displays of traffic information. Pilots and controllers will have a more precise picture of what’s going on around them and planes will be able to fly comfortably closer together, which translates into more capacity.

One of the earliest adopters of ADS-B was United Parcel Service. The package delivery giant has seen a 30 percent reduction in aircraft noise, and fuel savings that have produced a 34 percent reduction in emissions.

It’s hard to argue with results like that. NextGen means increased capacity, increased efficiency and increased safety. And, it means cleaner air.

At a test program at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, American Airlines used some NextGen flight procedures that reduced carbon dioxide emissions by levels equivalent to removing 15,000 cars from the road for a year. And Delta Airlines is using satellite-based navigation departure procedures at Atlanta, saving millions in fuel costs each year.

If you want to know how to be environmentally responsible, take a cue from aviation. New airframe and engine technology flying through a new satellite-based airspace will actually reduce aviation’s greenhouse gas footprint.

Mother Nature being what she is, it’s worth pointing out that weather accounts for 70 percent of flight delays. But NextGen increases capacity and improves reliability with new approaches to weather. It’ll mean better coordination with the airlines to resolve weather issues as they pop up. It will also help us predict weather patterns more accurately.

The bottom line: NextGen gives us what we so desperately need — the flexibility to safely and efficiently handle air traffic into the 21st century.

It’s a transformation from today’s ground-based air traffic system to a much more automated, satellite-based system — and it’s already started. To keep it going will take a reliable funding stream and continued partnership between Congress, the Bush administration and the industry. Without that, we will have an even bigger problem.

Sturgell, a pilot, is acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration.