WASHINGTON, D.C. — Plans to reorganize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to move air traffic control (ATC) duties to the private sector has some agriculture and aviation groups furious.

 

Some sent a joint letter to lawmakers on April 6 to raise objections to a recent proposal in Congress to remove oversight of the nation’s ATC system from the federal government and put it under control of mostly commercial airlines. The move, they claim, would be devastating to small rural areas.

 

  “Rural communities, agriculture and small businesses stand to lose the most under a privatized system, where there would be no Congressional oversight to ensure that all stakeholders and communities have access to air transportation,” the letter stated. “Under a privatized system, a private board dominated by the largest commercial operators would undoubtedly direct resources and investments to the largest hub airports and urban areas, where these investments would be most likely to benefit their bottom line.”

 

The group includes the Agriculture Retailers Assoc., Alliance for Aviation Across America, Crop Life America, League of Rural Voters, National Agricultural Aviation Assoc., National Council of Agricultural Employers, National Farmers Union, National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, National Women in Agriculture Assoc. and USA Rice Federation.

 

They join a growing number of voices raising concerns about the proposal to change the ATC system, including local elected officials, consumer advocates and small businesses. Central to the argument is that the removal of ATC duties from the FAA could bias funding and regulatory decisions in favor of large commercial operators, leaving smaller, rural carriers at a distinct disadvantage.

 

Legislation was introduced last year by U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chair of the House Infrastructure and Transportation Committee, to reorganize the FAA; however, the Senate failed to debate it and the House did not vote on it. Instead, Congress extended the authorization of the FAA until this September.

 

Since then, President Trump has also advocated a move of the ATC to an independent, non-governmental organization.

 

Shuster, who received nearly $300,000 to his reelection campaign and more than $50,000 to his leadership PAC from airline employees and PACs in 2015-16, argues that keeping ATC in its current form will create more setbacks and costs for failed modernization, continue a bureaucracy which stifles American innovation and continue a system incapable of handling growing demand.

 

A March 6 letter from 128 concerned small-town mayors to Shuster and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), ranking member of the committee, also expressed their concerns about a move toward privatization. “For tens of thousands of communities such as ours around the country, we depend on our local airport and all sectors of transportation to reach far-off markets and access critical services such as law enforcement, disaster relief and medical care,” they wrote.

 

“Privatization would hand over decisions about infrastructure funding, taxes and fees, consumer complaints, noise and many other priorities to a board of private interests dominated by the commercial airlines.” Proponents of the change look to the 1996 privatization of the Canadian ATC by the nonprofit corporation NAV CANADA, where U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao visited in late March.

 

“Canada is widely regarded as having the most advanced and efficient air navigation service provider in the world, thanks to successful reforms two decades ago that spun off the government air traffic office into an independent office,” said Marc Scribner, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

 

“U.S. air traffic control modernization has stalled due to Congressional and bureaucratic mismanagement, threatening the ability of the aviation system to cope with growing air traffic in the coming years. The U.S. remains the last major industrialized country in the world to allow its aviation safety regulator to operate the airspace.”

 

The mayors’ letter to Shuster and DeFazio says these claims are misleading: “The Canadian privatized system, which is often held up as the system the U.S. should emulate, is more expensive than the system we have in the U.S. by miles flown. In the (United Kingdom), that system has seen ‘more delays, higher fares and reduced connectivity’ at London’s airports since privatization.

 

“So, while we all agree that modernizing our air traffic control system and investing in American infrastructure should be among our highest priorities, privatization is not the answer.”