Lawmakers propose bill to privatize air traffic control

WASHINGTON (AP) – Responsibility for the nation’s air traffic control operations would shift from the government to a private, nonprofit corporation, under legislation introduced Wednesday.

The proposal is part of an overhaul of how Washington oversees the aviation system. The measure extends for six years the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration and continues its role as the regulator of aviation safety.

But the FAA would lose responsibility for day-to-day air traffic operations and the transition from a radar-based traffic control system to one based on satellite technology. A board representing aviation system users would govern the new, federally chartered air traffic control corporation.

Rep. Bill Shuster, the bill’s chief sponsor, said it was a “transformational” solution and greatly needed because modernization of the air traffic system is taking too long and costing too much. Without an overhaul, the system won’t be able to keep up with growing air traffic demands and congestion will increase, said Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Shuster, R-Pa., told reporters that he also wants to revamp how air traffic operations are financed, eliminating most airline ticket taxes in favor of a fee-based system. But the bill doesn’t specify how the tax and fee structure would be changed because decisions on taxes are up to the House Ways and Means Committee; Shuster is working with that committee, a spokesman said.

Airlines, the lobbying muscle behind the bill, have said the fairest way to pay for the air traffic system would mean having all aircraft operators pay fees for the services they use, such as controller-directed takeoffs and landings and government weather reports.

Most other aircraft operators oppose a fee system, which they say would shift a greater share of paying for the air traffic system away from airlines and onto them.

Airlines have tried to transfer air traffic control to a nonprofit corporation for at least two decades. Dozens of countries have separated their air traffic control operations from their safety oversight agencies. In some cases that has meant placing air traffic responsibility in private for-profit, nonprofit or quasi-governmental corporations.

The model for Shuster’s proposal is Canada, which shifted its air traffic operations to a nonprofit corporation about a decade ago.

The FAA has worked on its “NextGen” modernization program for more than a decade and says much progress has been made. But airlines say they have yet to see significant benefits from the billions of dollars spent on modernization.

Even before the bill was introduced, the privatization proposal drew bipartisan opposition, including from lawmakers on the committees that control the FAA’s money flow.

But Shuster and Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., the aviation subcommittee chairman and the bill’s co-sponsor, gained an influential ally Wednesday when the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union that represents the air traffic controllers, announced its support for the bill.

The bill would also:

-seek to accelerate the FAA’s safety approval process for new aircraft designs and equipment.

-make changes sought by the drone industry in the FAA’s powers to regulate unmanned aircraft.