The mayors of 118 mostly small and medium-sized U.S. cities have
signed letters in opposition to a proposal to privatize the U.S. air traffic
control (ATC) system.
"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," reads the March 6 letters, which were sent to the chairman and
top Democrat of both the House and Senate transportation committees. "These
are the same airlines that have cut back flights to smaller communities by more
than 20% in recent years, and have stated their intent to divert investment
from small and mid-sized communities to large ones where the airlines are most
profitable."
The letters were prepared with the help of the Alliance for
Aviation Across America, a general aviation advocacy group that opposes the
proposal to remove operational control of ATC from the purview of the FAA and
place it under a nonprofit run by a board of stakeholders.
The measure, which was introduced by House transportation
committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-Penn.) last year, never made it to a vote on
the House floor. But Shuster plans to reintroduce the privatization proposal
this year as part of a bill to reauthorize FAA funding ahead of a Sept. 30
deadline.
The major U.S. airlines, except Delta, support the measure,
saying that the private model would speed an ongoing effort to replace the U.S.'s
radar-based ATC system with the GPS-based NextGen system. Supporters also say
that privatization would remove ATC from the uncertainty of the politicized
Congressional appropriations process.
As proposed last year, the board of the nonprofit ATC
corporation would be comprised of 11 appointees, including four selected by
mainline airlines and two selected by general aviation interests.
The Trump administration has yet to say whether it supports
privatization.