ATC Privatization

In late April, much of the industry began breathing a sigh of relief that House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster’s (R-Pa.) last minute attempt to reintroduce a plan to separate the nation’s air traffic control system from the FAA’s core infrastructure role was pulled by the Pennsylvania Congressman. Now, just 60 days later, […]

FAA reauthorization legislation that would fund programs through 2023 heads to the U.S. Senate after passage of the House bill, HR 4, late last month. Lawmakers say they hope they can begin debating the legislation in the Senate in the coming weeks and get a final bill to President Donald Trump’s desk before the August […]

The message from GA pilots to Congress on Tuesday was loud and clear: Leave ATC alone. Amid an outcry from general aviation groups, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) dropped an eleventh-hour effort to move oversight of air traffic control out of the FAA and into the Department of Transportation, a maneuver […]

It took nearly a year of often contentious debate, but the U.S. House this week passed a long-term reauthorization of the FAA to replace the series of short-term extensions that have plagued the agency since 2015. The bi-partisan effort will run for five years. While the new legislation did not include his controversial amendment to […]

Supporters and opponents of efforts to sever the nation’s air traffic control system from the FAA were surprised Tuesday night when Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) announced he was dropping his controversial ATC privatization plan and removing it from any further House consideration, at least for now. Shuster’s proposal to create a not-for-profit corporation to operate […]

The Wall Street Journal ran a Valentine’s Day editorial that had nothing to do with love, at least not with folks on either side of the ATC privatization debate. The piece, “Private Jet-Setters Against Better Air Travel,” took the National Business Aviation Association to task for blocking reforms of the nation’s air traffic control system […]

The Trump administration presented its budget for fiscal year 2019 this week and, once again, it includes language that would move the responsibility of air traffic control from the FAA to a non-governmental organization run by a private board, “effectively dominated by the airlines and unaccountable to Congress” according to the National Business Aviation Administration. […]

Christa Lucas, the NBAA’s VP of Government Affairs, yesterday shared timely bits of information about happenings on Capitol Hill in the new legislative session with members of the Chicago Area Business Aviation Association at a meeting near Chicago Executive Airport. While Lucas gave credit to the White House and Congress on provisions in the new […]

While Rep. Bill Shuster’s (R-Pa) announcement that he’ll leave the House at the end of 2018 might signal a potential win for opponents of his controversial plan to separate air traffic control from the FAA, Mr. Shuster’s remark, “We have much still to do,” should serve as a reminder that the effort to create a […]

As we do at the end of each year, the editors of Flying have compiled a list of the most important, compelling and industry-shaping news stories to emerge in the preceding 12 months. As always, the year was jam-packed with major news stories, from the political battles that gripped Washington to new airplane introductions and […]