EDITORIAL: Private ATC, public stakes

June 08--The American aviation market is by far the largest in the world in almost every way that it can be measured. According to the Department of Transportation, more than 9 million commercial flights carried nearly 1 billion passengers in 2016 and that doesn't count cargo and general aviation.

The system also is among the safest. There has not been a fatal commercial airline crash in the United States in more than eight years.

All of that makes it truly remarkable that, regarding its air traffic control system, the United States is far behind the global standard.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which manages air traffic control, has been playing catch-up for more than a decade. Yet U.S. flights still follow radio- and radar-determined point-to-point routes rather than using satellite GPS to reduce flight times and fuel consumption.

So President Donald Trump's endorsement of transferring oversight of air traffic control from the FAA to a nonprofit corporation makes sense if it will get the system up to speed.

Several congressional studies have lamented bureaucratic delays for the slow roll-out of a modern system. Major players, including the airline industry and air traffic controllers, endorse the switch. Rep. Bill Shuster, an Altoona Republican and chairman of the House Transportation Committee, wants to create a nonprofit corporation for air traffic control.

But another major party -- air travelers -- has not been consulted.

Airline consolidation already puts travelers at the mercy of a few big carriers. Under the air traffic control privatization plan, airline representatives would be the board of directors.

As the passengers' advocacy group Flyers' Rights put it, the plan would be the "creation of an airline-controlled corporate monopoly ... handing the airlines, for free, control over a core public asset and providing them unbridled power to extract new fees and increased taxes from passengers."

Shuster, whose proposal ensures continued union representation for controllers, should create a mechanism to address consumers' rights before vastly expanding airlines' power.

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