Rep. Pompeo Steps Up Opposition to Privatized U.S. ATC

The lack of a long-term FAA reauthorization bill could stifle aviation businesses, warns Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), who also is wary that a cornerstone of the long-term House reauthorization proposal is a measure to create a separate organization to run the nation’s ATC system.

FAA reauthorization “needs to get done,” the three-term congressman whose district includes Wichita, told AIN. A lack of certainty from Congress affects business decisions, he said.

Pompeo has a background in running businesses, including serving as CEO of the aircraft parts business formerly known as Thayer Aerospace. “What we needed before we could hire people and grow our company and figure out how to take appropriate risks was certainty,” he said. “That certainty wasn’t two months or a year. We needed to know what the rules of the road were going to be two or three or five years out so we could make the best decisions, whether it was buying a new machine or hiring a handful of people or bringing on engineering.”

Referring to short-term extensions used in recent years for both government funding and authorization bills, Pompeo said, “these stop-gap measures are a wreck for small businesses. They can’t plan. They can’t develop effective strategy. Without certainty, the tendency is to [shy away from growth], to hunker down, not hire people and not take risks.”

In terms of passing long-term bills, he added, “It is imperative that we begin to get this right and we put in place permanent legislation that is structured so [business leaders] have a clear idea of how to grow their business.”

At the same time, though, Pompeo also emphasizes that Congress needs to get the language in reauthorization right. Pompeo does not sit on the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee that is writing the reauthorization bill; his committee is Energy and Commerce. But as a member of the House General Aviation Caucus and a representative of Wichita interests, Pompeo has watched the development of the bill carefully and has been active on a number of general aviation issues.

“There are some really great provisions in there,” he said of the House reauthorization proposal in the works. “There has been some hard work by [T&I] chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.). Some provisions that absolutely will be a help to general aviation.” But Pompeo added, “There are a handful that would be enormously detrimental to general aviation. We will keep working through those to make it right.”

Those provisions of concern primarily revolve around the independent ATC concept. “I’ve watched this idea of privatization of the ATC system move to the forefront,” he said. “As a limited-government conservative, I always think privatization sounds great. But the devil for this particular project is in the details.” Pompeo acknowledged that he uses the term privatization loosely since any organization will have a government role and the FAA will continue to have safety oversight of ATC.

But his chief concern is that the ATC system must serve all customers. “A privatization plan that puts big airlines in charge of the ATC system will work much to the detriment of consumers who are flying general aviation aircraft and are selling the aircraft.” Any system must account for the general aviation community “in a way that continues to make America the leading place for flying general aviation aircraft,” he said.

Another key worry of the general aviation community about any privatization or independent ATC proposal is the potential for user fees. Pompeo pointed to past attempts to tax general aviation “out of existence” through user fees or other levies. “We have got to make sure general aviation continues to pay its fair share of taxes but no more,” he said.

Positive Regulatory Environment

Another key issue that Pompeo sees at the forefront this year is the rewrite of certification regulations governing development of Part 23 aircraft. He was the author of the Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013, which set a December 2015 deadline for the FAA to release the Part 23 rewrite. When the FAA missed that deadline, he followed with a letter last month to the Administration appealing for a quick review of the rewrite proposal.

To Pompeo the rewrite is about ensuring that “when we have talented engineers trying to build really great airplanes, government works alongside not against them to get that aircraft certified.” The rewrite, he added, “will make U.S. aircraft manufacturers more competitive. [The period] from the idea phase to the flying phase will be shorter.” That will facilitate manufacturing jobs both in the U.S. and around the world, he said. “That’s a big deal.”

Efforts such as these and continued battles to ward off new taxes or unwieldy environmental regulations are critical as the industry continues its slow recovery from the downturn that began in late 2008, he said.

“Today we find ourselves still in an incredibly difficult place, although a better place than we were then,” he said, recalling both the economic and image difficulties confronting the industry in 2009 and 2010. He noted that the economic downfall led to the merger of the two largest general aviation employers (Cessna and Beechcraft) under Textron.

As for the image problem, he noted that government leaders had “continued to mock general aviation [by] talking about fat cats and corporate jet owners. It really made the political environment incredibly difficult.”

That danger persists today, as races heat up for the November election. “That risk always sits out there for some politicians who use it as a cheap political stunt…It always is an attractive option for them,” Pompeo said. “But the good news is this isn’t a partisan issue. There are Republicans and Democrats who understand the value of this industry.” With that understanding, the risk, he added, is far lower than it was five years ago.

While acknowledging the attempts by some politicians to smear the perception of the industry, Pompeo underscored the importance of the value of general aviation. “The folks who are flying these airplanes are people looking to make good business decisions. The biggest piece of the general aviation world isn’t rich folks flying on their luxury airplanes to Jamaica or the Bahamas,” Pompeo said. “It truly is an economic engine that is important to the U.S. and the last great manufacturing story here in the U.S.”