Trump backs privatizing air traffic control
OVERHAUL PLAN: President foresees safer system with fewer flight delays and lower costs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed a proposal to privatize air traffic control, seizing on a decades-old idea as proof he is advancing the ambitious infrastructure rebuilding plan he promised during his campaign but is still months from delivering.
At an East Room event that was choreographed like the elaborate ceremonies for approving major legislation, Trump signed a memo and letter to Congress outlining his principles for overhauling the nation’s air traffic control system. He handed out pens to lawmakers who had been invited to attend and reveled in several rounds of applause.
But Trump’s announcement did not have any binding effect and is all but certain to be rejected by Democrats.
And he did not take any action on Monday toward a broader $1 trillion infrastructure spending initiative to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, including some of the nation’s old and inefficient airports, a subject he spoke about many times as a candidate.
His advisers say that package is months away, though Trump had said in April it would be ready last
month.
Instead, the aviation outline was based on principles that have been debated for years and were introduced as legislation last year. It is an initiative that DJ Gribbin, an infrastructure specialist at his National Economic Council, called “low-hanging fruit” that is ready for action by Congress.
Itwasthefirstannouncement in a week’s worth of infrastructure events the White House has planned to showcase the president’s commitment to a marquee campaign pledge — in the absence of any concrete legislative movement toward achieving it.
The blueprint Trump unveiled would have spun off air traffic control from the Federal Aviation Administration within three years. His proposal was modeled closely on stalled legislation that introduced last year by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
“Today, we’re proposing to take American air travel into the future, finally,” Trump said at the reception attended by Shuster and other lawmakers, as well as airline industry officials and past secretaries of transportation from Republican administrations.
Trump promised that the new system to track airplanes with global positioning satellites would “dramatically improve” the current method of radar and radio signals, and result in fewer delays, a safer system and lower costs for passengers. “This new entity will not need taxpayer money, which is very shocking when people hear that — they don’t hear that too often,” Trump said.
Democrats have denounced Trump’s plan, arguing that it would saddle travelers with higher costs and allow private businesses to reap the profits while leaving underserved areas without much-needed improvements.
“The entire focus of the president’s infrastructure proposal is on privatization, which sounds like a nice word, but when you scratch beneath the surface it means much less construction and far fewer jobs, particularly in rural areas,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate minority leader. “It means Trump tolls from one end of America to the other, and huge profits for financiers who, when they put up the money, want to be repaid by the average driver, worker and citizen.”
White House officials said the plan to privatize a key piece of the nation’s transportation backbone was a template for the president’s vision for his broader infrastructure plan. He envisions the federal government drastically scaling back its role in funding the building and modernization of the country’s physical structures, and relying more on private companies and localities to pay for it.
Trump has also proposed substantial reductions in infrastructure spending as part of his 2018 budget, including a 12 percent cut to the Department of Transportation and a 16 percent cut at the Army Corps of Engineers, which builds canals, dams and flood protection structures throughout the U.S.
The aviation proposal has drawn support from the association representing air traffic controllers and other industry players, including pilots.
“The status quo is unacceptable,” Jon Weaks, the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association, who attended the White House announcement, said in a statement. “By expediting modernization, Mr. President, we will indeed make American aviation great again.”
But it raised concern among some aviation organizations that the Trump administration might not provide the money necessary to truly modernize air travel in the United States.
“Any plan to reform air traffic control must address the significant infrastructure needs of airports,” said Kevin Burke, the president of Airports Council International–North America. “We cannot modernize one aspect of our aviation system and settle for the status quo for another, especially the foundation on which our aviation system is built.”