Privatizing ATC

There are two reasons why GA has been adament about not privatizing ATC.  The first one is the fees.  Janice Wood, in her article, states "The plan, brought up now as part of the reauthorization of the FAA, raises — once again — the spectre of user fees, which GA has been fighting for more than a decade." (Wood, 2015).  Additionally, there is a fear, from GA, that privatizing will cause certain air traffic, specifically the airlines, to gain priority.

Many of the airlines are pushing for ATC to be released from FAA control, and turned into a non-profit.  Airlines that include, American, Alaska, JetBlue, and Southwest, along with cargo carriers (Atlas, FedEx), "told reporters on a conference call that a corporation with a board of industry leaders would work faster than FAA to modernize equipment and adopt more efficient flight paths." (Jansen, 2015)

ATC is, in fact privatized in other countries, and is safe and sufficient.  "Commercialized air traffic control organizations in Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom “operate with varying degrees of government ownership, but each runs like a business, generating their own revenue streams and making their own decisions regarding operating the air traffic system and modernizing equipment,” according to a Department of Transportation inspector general report."

"House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster will shortly release draft legislation to convert our nation’s air traffic control system to a non-profit corporation..." (Robyn, 2015) In '95, the Clinton administration made an attempt to do the same thing, but at the time, very few countries had gone this route.  Today, over 60 countries have jumped on board.  ATC is now on board as well, knowing that supporting corporatization will secure funding for critical investments.

Truthfully, I can't say one way or the other about whether or not ATC should stay as-is or become privately run.  It is an area that, sadly, I have not looked much into, even with numerous friends working in the industry.  It seems like two totally different options, but both have the same ultimate goal in mind.  Definitely something I will be looking into.

References

Robyn, D. (2015, September 28). It's time to corporatize air traffic control (the right way). Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2015/09/28-corporatize-air-traffic-control-robyn 

Barton, E. (2015, December 2). Call to action issued over ATC privatization. Retrieved from http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/10/transportation-watchdog-lauds-privatized-air-traffic-control/  

Jansen, B. (2015, December 2). Call to action issued over ATC privatization. Retrieved December 7, 2015.  Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/12/01/airline-executives-urge-privatization-air-traffic-control/76604766/

Wood, J. (2015, July 8). Call to action issued over ATC privatization. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
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