FAA Score Card

In June 2017, President Trump led off Infrastructure Week with his plan to move ATC to a nonprofit, private corporation. With two bills already in Congress, D. J. Gribben, special assistant to the president for infrastructure, called it low-hanging fruit from a policy perspective. Little did he know how incendiary the word privatization is to the aviation community. Mr. Gribben often uses this word, but savvy proponents avoid it and even refute those who use it.

IFR Staff

Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A 2017 proposal by President Trump to privatize Air Traffic Control (ATC) through the "AIRR" Act met strong opposition from the aviation community and ultimately failed to pass Congress.
The core problems facing the FAA are unstable, stop-and-go funding due to congressional reauthorization issues and its slow, inefficient modernization process, particularly with the NextGen initiative.
An alternative bill, H.R. 2800, was introduced to stabilize FAA funding by exempting the Airport and Airway Trust Fund from sequestration and simplifying procurement for NextGen projects.
While the privatization proposal is currently considered "dead," the article suggests it may re-emerge as a serious option if the FAA's fundamental issues with funding and modernization remain unresolved.

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In June 2017, President Trump led off Infrastructure Week with his plan to move ATC to a nonprofit, private corporation. With two bills already in Congress, D. J. Gribben, special assistant to the president for infrastructure, called it “low-hanging fruit from a policy perspective.” Little did he know how incendiary the word “privatization” is to the aviation community. Mr. Gribben often uses this word, but savvy proponents avoid it and even refute those who use it.

Not Privatization

They’re right. It’s not privatization according to The American Conservative Union Foundation’s seven principles of privatization. Applied to H.R. 2997, the “AIRR” Act, it failed to meet five of the criteria.