Will Congress Reform Air Traffic Control?

Five years ago, Bob Poole and I argued that the nation’s air traffic control (ATC) system should be transformed into a private, nonprofit organization supported by customer charges, not taxpayer subsidies. I have argued that Canada’s privatized system is a good model for U.S. reforms.


Well, how about that: the Wall Street Journal reports that Congress and various aviation interest groups are coming around to the Cato way of thinking on the matter: 

A push to radically reshape the outmoded U.S. air‐​traffic control system is gaining support, as airlines and some labor unions join to back change and a top lawmaker drafts legislation that could effectively privatize services.


Rep. Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican and the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and his staff are drafting legislation to strip the nation’s 15,000 civilian controllers and more than 230 air‐​traffic facilities from the Federal Aviation Administration, possibly putting them under the control of a nonprofit corporation, people familiar with the plan say.


… Rep. Shuster’s spokesman said this month that the goal is “serious reform” and the committee “has looked extensively at other air‐​traffic models around the world.”


… A number of influential organizations are joining the chorus for change. Paul Rinaldi, president of the controllers union, hasn’t signed onto the idea of privatization but has become less resistant to the general concept. He has complained about the unpredictability of congressional appropriations by saying “we are going to lose our competitive edge if we don’t knock it off.”