Pro/Con: Modernize, Don’t Privatize Air Traffic Control

Counterpoint | Modernization, not privatization, is key to aviation leadership

Guest Commentary: For the first time in decades, the administration, the Congress and the aviation industry are united on a detailed and aggressive plan to build a new air traffic control system.

Pro/Con: Modernize, don’t privatize air traffic control

For the first time in decades, the administration, Congress, and aviation industry are united on a detailed and aggressive plan to build a new air-traffic-control system. In fact, Congress has already approved more than a third of the money necessary to complete the project. Unfortunately, misguided proponents of privatizing air traffic control have predictably gone into overdrive trying to distract from this effort to promote their privatizatio…

How to Modernize America’s Air Traffic Control

Airlines are gradually getting flight schedules back to normal. Congress can shut down government operations, but when airlines cancelled flights, Americans took notice. It’s clear that the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), the operational arm of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), requires significant resources. The ATO lags far behind its counterparts in Australia, Canada, and Western Europe in deploying twenty-first-century technology. T…