My friend Chris Edwards at Cato Institute examines the motives of the groups opposing President Trump’s proposed Air Traffic Control (ATC) reforms. He calls the opposition reasoning “short-sighted.” A privatized system in Canada has lowered costs and made the system more efficient. Read more from Edwards below.
The airlines are for it, the key labor union is for it, aviation experts are for it, and the second-largest nation on earth did it. Canada privatized its system in 1996, and today the nonprofit Nav Canada is on the leading edge of ATC efficiency and innovation. The image below shows Iridium satellites that will form the basis of an advanced navigation system for aircraft called Aireon. Nav Canada leads the revolutionary project in an international partnership—a partnership that does not include the FAA. The system will generate “more efficient use of airspace, substantial fuel savings, fewer delays and significantly enhance safety over large parts of the world.”
What is the opposition The Hill refers to? The corporate jet lobby—the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA)—is against reform, and it raises the spectre of higher fees under a privatized system. But aircraft charges under the privatized Canadian system have fallen, not risen. The latest data show that “Nav Canada has seen its inflation-adjusted user fees fall 45 percent lower than the aviation taxes they replaced,” notes Marc Scribner of CEI.
The opposition of NBAA’s leadership to reform is short-sighted. Over the long term, NBAA members will be best served by an advanced and dynamic private ATC system, not one mired in bureaucracy and unstable government funding. NBAA members should research the successful Canadian reforms themselves because the record is clear.
Kudos to President Trump and Secretary Chao for rebuffing the special interests on this issue, and pursuing reforms to the overall benefit of the aviation industry and flying public.
Read more here.
