baseball

It's either a smoke-screen for their lobby group to pursue a larger agenda, or the company is trying to leverage their influence to do the things that republicans already want to do, and therefore increase their credibility and enhance their influence.

The company (and all corporations) don't like to dicker with government bureaucracy. If they can cut out government Air Traffic Control, they can start to peel back the onion.

Management's aren't happy the unions got FAR 117 up and they aren't loving the current ATP requirements. I would estimate that if the airline lobby comes out in favor of privatization and helps the administration pursue it, then the administration and their sympathetic congressmen and senators may come out in favor of relaxing 117 and in particular lowering ATP rules.

Airline Managements want lower entry level pay, therefore they want lower ATP requirements. They are playing the long game now and trying to lower the entry level pay, and that might help them bring down all the pay scales.

Andy

Or maybe privatized ATC is more cost effective than a government system? I'm happy with Canada's privatized ATC.

Dave Fitzgerald

Ok, do you fly GA? That might work in Canada. I do have friends in Canada that despise the private ATC system.

Privatized ATC in the US would devolve into airlines cutting costs at everyone else's expense. Safety would be for sale. Nothing would get spent on GA, and GA effectively shut out of the system and exorbitant prices for minimal or nonexistent services.

Anyone arguing "It works in Canada" is a false argument. There is no other ATC system in the world as safe, or as large as the US system. Privatization will not work, and is a giant boondoggle to get the FAA funding removed from the federal budget to show that something is being done. Why does something have to be done to fix a non problem? Politicians.....

baseball

I don't think the airline's care how much money the government spends. They don't care about healthcare, military spending, or the federal bureaucracy that befuddles all things big government.

If this were the case, I would think they would go after Obama-care, government pensions, social security, and welfare...... That would be cost effective to get rid of those programs.

Before you can privatize something as big as ATC, they should show us how they can privatize the USPS. if they can do that successfully, I would consider privatizing other government functions.

Floobs

A private atc would be a good thing. So much money is wasted on government run atc for a mediorce product. Getting rid of the government pensions would make it worth it alone.

JoePatroni

Keeping those pension promises is such a pesky thing when it’s much easier to renege on the promise and pocket the money. Great idea.

Andy

No, I don't fly GA. And from my understanding, the complaint for GA in Canada is that they have to pay usage fees for services used.

So is the beef that it costs GA money to use ATC services? If that's the case, I'd suggest that yes, privatization works in Canada.

CBreezy

Man, I'd hate to see what you would say if the government came after your retirement. "You know what? You're right. It is burdensome to other people than me. It's only fair."

Andy

Many postal deliveries are handled by private companies. Ever hear of FedEx or UPS?

HuggyU2

Some functions are better served by private industry.

The nation's air infrastructure and air traffic control is not one of those functions.

An air traffic system run by a private oligarchy of airline executives is unlikely to do anything but increase costs to everyone… except those who will get rich by being a part of the “management”. And they will dork it up six ways from Sunday. Amtrak isn’t nearly as complex as the US air traffic system. Would anyone call that a shining success?

Has the FAA been bureaucratically slow over the years? Yes, of course. And while we want things improved at a faster rate, privatization will most certainly not fix the issues. Will it improve air traffic delays? Unlikely, since statistics from the Bureau of Transportation show that ~80% of delays are due to the airlines themselves and weather.

I think most of us would agree that running an airline is difficult, and many Part 121 pilots are not in the least bit trusting of their management. Oh, by the way, that’s the same management that would be running the air traffic system. Do you think they won’t squeeze out G.A. and the corporate guys in favor of their own profits?

And while it is easy to throw stones at the FAA, our Air Traffic System is pretty good… arguably the best in the world, even when you consider the congestion. And no user fees!

But $46 billion over the next decade to implement privatization is one of many non-starters for me. Yes... $46,000,000,000
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...rol/102026976/
Imagine what steps we could make if the $46 billion were used for “modernization, not privatization”.

Ed Bolen, is the President and CEO of NBAA, and a brilliantly smart and clever executive. I had the honor of interacting with him in my previous non-flying job. Here’s his take on how it will affect American business aviation. It’s actually a very short read, despite how it might appear: https://www.nbaa.org/advocacy/testim...-Testimony.pdf

Bottom line: privatization puts profit ahead of safety and affordability. Our government has done a good job of creating safe skies. It’s a function that is well suited to government, despite the natural cynicism that we all feel about government bureaucracy.

We don’t need to privatize to modernize.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EuQYJsf5F8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scnUl-j9tOw

https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/eaa-news-...erfect-example