President Trump Monday signed a document outlining “principles for reforming the U.S. Air Traffic Control system.” The document establishes the president’s priorities in regard to turning ATC into a non-profit entity.

 

The document states that removing ATC from direct government control would help ATC operate outside of the government bureaucracy and allow it to “keep pace with the accelerating rate of change in the aviation industry… A more nimble ATC entity will also be able to more quickly and securely implement Next Generation (NextGen) technology, which will reduce aircraft delays and expand the availability of the National Airspace System (NAS) for all users.”

 

Relevant to the ag aviation industry, the document also states, “All users, including the general aviation industry and emerging new entrants, must have open access to our Nation’s airspace,” and “must maintain access and services to rural communities and general aviation users.”

 

The president’s plan would transfer ATC to a non-profit entity over the course of three years. The non-profit would be funded by fees, instead of by taxpayer dollars, and would be governed by a 13-member board of directors. Two board members would be selected by Airlines for America, one by the National Air Traffic Controllers of America, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the National Business Aviation Association would share in the selection of one board member, Airports Council International – North America and the American Association of Airport Executives would share in the selection of another board member, and the Department of 

Transportation would select two board members. Those nine board members would then select four more board members.

 

The president’s principles are largely in line with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster’s ATC corporatization proposal released in 2016. NAAA expects that committee to release a new, similar plan in the coming months and it looks as if the president will back it.

 

NAAA and its general aviation allies signed a letter to the president directed at his proposal outlining that general aviation “is an industry that generates more than one million jobs, and more than $200 billion for the nation’s economy…[and] that the majority of all general aviation in the world today takes place in the U.S.”  The letter also emphasized that “the U.S. air traffic control system is the best in the world, moving more aircraft, more safely and efficiently, than any other country.” The coalition of general aviation groups also stated that “it has very real and long-standing concerns…to user fees,” and particularly underscored those fees negative effect on general aviation in other countries.  NAAA will continue to keep you informed on this issue.