Air travelers could be in for a bumpy ride thanks to President Trump's plans to overhaul the country's air-traffic control system.
President Trump announceD plans Monday to privatize the nation's air traffic control system, arguing that it is the best way to modernize the system. "The AIRR Act is transformational legislation that prepares the USA aviation system for the future, helps ensure a modern, safe system that benefits passengers and the economy, and keeps America competitive in a vital industry".
About 50,000 flights take off and land in the United States every day. "The idea that we would take the safest system in the world and the most complicated, and suddenly privatize it, that's insane", he said.
In an attempt to gain support for a plan that fell short in Congress a year ago, the White House said the 13-member board of directors for the new corporation should be made up of appointees from industry stakeholder groups. Plans to rebuild roads, bridges, railways, airports and other types of infrastructure are also expected. However, fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill were wary about a plan that would add billions to the deficit or increase taxes. On Wednesday, Trump will visit Cincinnati for a planned speech on the need to upgrade the system of inland waterways, dams, locks and ports critical for shipping farm products.
"Anything in terms of impacting the system in terms of cost or safety we should be firmly against", said Mark Baker, President of the 350,000 member Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. "Our air traffic control system is stuck painfully in the past". The proposal is part of the administration's ambitious infrastructure agenda.
US airlines have been campaigning for more than two decades to separate air traffic control operations from the FAA.
It's a change the major airlines have wanted. As Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I would never support a policy that would endanger the safety of our aviation system and passengers.
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President Donald Trump laid out his vision for overhauling and privatizing the air traffic control system in a press conference Monday.
The FAA has been trying to get up to speed with its Next Generation Air Transport System, or NextGen, but analysts say it's fallen short of expectations.
Union officials have also complained that the FAA has been unable to resolve chronic controller understaffing at some of the nation's busiest facilities and pointed to the modernization effort's slow progress.
He said that under the Federal Aviation Administration's current system, air traffic controllers use archaic radar technology and ground-based radio systems to track planes.
Legislation already exists to accomplish nearly exactly what Trump wants, as Congress has previously debated the matter at length.
But opponents are wary of big airline control and the disruptions of flipping such a major system.
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