But, think if you were a fleet manager at say, DAL or AAL, where Boeing wants a million dollars per airplane in your 150 bird fleet to change out your FMS and related gear to give you WAAS/LAAS and GLS auto-land capability.
Well, DAL just performed
their first GLS approach into Houston a couple of weeks ago (December 1). They already have 34 GLS-capable B737s, out of a total of 112 GLS-capable B737s on order. According to the FAA, DAL is also considering GLS for 45 A321 future deliveries.
AAL will have GLS on all of their B787s on order (GLS is a standard feature on new 787s).
From an economics perspective, these new technologies will allow more fuel-efficient operations at higher traffic densities.
Not to mention, the FAA currently spends $100 million
each year for ILS maintenance. It would be a big win if this number can be cut in half through decommissioning. Maybe keep one ILS per airport for backup (as opposed to one per runway end), in addition to the CAT II/III ones.