White House Budget Renews ATC Privatization Call

The White House signaled last month that it is going to continue its push to carve the U.S. air traffic control organization out of the FAA, including a renewed call for privatization in its Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal. Released in February, the budget proposal reiterated the administration’s desire to create a “non-governmental, independent air traffic services cooperative” and maintained, “[Our] goal is to create a system that can respond to changing air travel demand by deploying cutting-edge technology and giving airlines, general aviation users, and passengers a system that is a good steward of their financial resources.” The White House added that this system would be "similar to successful efforts in many other developed countries."

Not surprisingly, the renewed call immediately drew jeers from opponents to the proposal, including general aviation, business aviation, helicopter and rural groups, among others.

“The Administration and a few members of Congress continue to offer proposals that would take the management of air traffic control operations from the FAA, which places the public interest as its top priority, and give that management to a private entity that would be responsible only to a small, insular board,” said General Aviation Manufacturers Association president and CEO Pete Bunce. “The proposals remain a bad idea that lack industry and political consensus, particularly at a time when new industries like commercial space, unmanned aerial vehicles, and urban mobility air vehicles will share the nation’s airspace."

“The idea of handing over the nation’s ATC system to what amounts to an airline cartel…[is] bad policy, which would have a devastating impact on small communities and rural areas, which could see their access to airports and airspace threatened,” agreed NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen.

And, National Air Transportation Association president Martin Hiller vowed to continue “to fight this existential threat to general aviation and the businesses that support this vital community—supporting more than one million jobs nationwide.”

The proposal was rolled out the same day that President Donald Trump unveiled his long-promised infrastructure proposal. But despite the stated intent to continue pushing for reforms of the ATC system, notably absent from the infrastructure proposal was anything specific to ATC.

Uncertain Fate

And the fate of that proposal this year remains uncertain, at best, as the FAA’s authorization is set to expire at the end of March. House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania) is ramping up a major push for an infrastructure proposal. While he told reporters that he first has to get an FAA bill completed, some have quietly questioned whether he is simply going to push for another extension and, instead, turn his attention to infrastructure.  Others, though, believe he may try to make one last major push to bring his comprehensive bill—which includes the controversial ATC measure—to the floor in the first couple weeks of March.

Regardless, there is no indication that such a proposal would win any support in the Senate. The Senate still must act on its FAA bill, which stalled over a measure designed to ease the 1,500-hour ATP requirement for commercial pilots. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-South Dakota), however, has indicated a willingness to compromise on the ATP measure to get his bill to the floor.

If the House and Senate remain at odds over the ATC measure, lawmakers likely will come to an agreement on an extension; a two-year extension is being floated as a possibility to carry the reauthorization cycle well beyond the elections.

While the ATC measure may hit a wall, at least for this year, proponents of the independent ATC proposal show no sign of backing down. The House T&I Committee continued to push ATC reform, including promoting a Wall Street Journal editorial that calls the concept of a separate ATC organization a good idea.

The committee sent an email distributing the February 14 WSJ editorial that takes aim at the “lobbyists for the paupers known as the corporate jet lobby.” The editorial called NBAA’s Bolen a ringleader running a “misinformation campaign,” and also cited the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association in the effort.

The paper disputes arguments of ATC privatization opponents that the airlines would ultimately run the system, saying the proposal would only permit limited airline seats on the board that would run an independent ATC system, and other groups would have seats. The editorial also rehashes arguments of proponents that GA is exempt from user fees and dismissed as a “canard” concerns about small community access. “If business jets try to tank the bill no matter the details, then Republicans ought to subject them to fees, same as commercial flights,” the WSJ suggests, arguments long made by the airline community that has tried to shift their costs burdens to other users of the system.

Bolen responded that the editorial is inaccurate and fails to recognize the much broader opposition to the proposal, which includes 200 general aviation groups, along with mayors of every state and business leaders.

“In attacking NBAA, the editorial recycles inaccurate airline talking points that have proven to be false, and obscures the fact that airlines themselves are responsible for most flight delays,” Bolen said. “Instead of engaging in a productive discussion on our ATC system, the airlines and their allies continue to spread false information and disparage general aviation.”

Bolen added that the editorial provides further need to contact Capitol Hill to maintain opposition to the plan.

The appearance of the editorial as the FAA authorization deadline loomed, along with the return of the ATC proposal in the White House proposal gives a clear sign that whatever happens this year, the proposal is not going away.