ATC Privatization

Air Traffic Control, known as ATC, works off of a system of ground-based radar. This is a system that dates back to the 1970s that uses a “line of sight” reference. Once a radar echo picks up a sizeable mass in the air, the signal is bounced off the mass back to a receiver and the duration and direction are noted to calculate distance and height. While this system is relatively decent at getting aircraft from point A to point B, it is still very inefficient. According to Sara Breselor at wired.com, one man with bad intentions was able to directly put down 91,000 square miles of radar coverage by slicing cables and setting a fire in the basement of Chicago center (Breselor, 2017). While the man may have been suicidal and a long-standing employee, he was able to put down almost 10,000 square miles of coverage for aircraft above 10,000 feet. Another problem with our current system is that if the radar cannot “see” the aircraft, it cannot detect it. The radar has to have a direct line of sight to be able to pick up aircraft. NextGen, short for Next Generation, is a system that the FAA has been working on for a long time. NextGen is a system that utilizes satellites to keep track of and transmit information from ATC to pilots and back. ADS-B is a part of this system that transmits things such as callsign, altitude, and speed directly to controllers, allowing them to have immediate access to it without having to ask. Other systems consolidate data to one place or allow for closer separation minimums then before. NextGen is meant to be a solution to the denser traffic volumes that the FAA has seen in recent years.

One problem with the new system of NextGen is that the FAA and federal regulations as a whole have slowed the process down tremendously. One of the solutions that has arisen time and again is to privatize the ATC sector. While this might not change the workforce all that much, as many would undoubtedly be previous FAA employees, it could make things difficult for the people that use it. According to AOPA “House Bill 2997 would transfer ATC and its billions of dollars in assets from the FAA to a 13-member board controlled by airline interests” (Hirschman, 2017). The GA world is deeply concerned and fighting this possible privatization due to the fear that the airlines would capitalize on the private sector. According to Mark Baker, writing for the Washington post, The ACU, or the American Conservative Union, believes “the bill would stifle competition, and “fails when weighed against the interests of consumers and taxpayers” (Baker, 2017). While the airlines are the main supporters of ATC privatization, many are against them.

There have been examples of privatized ATC that are working. One example of this is NATS or the National Air Traffic Service, is the British spin on air traffic control. They are a public private company with “the Airline Group, which holds 42%, NATS staff who hold 5%, UK airport operator LHR Airports Limited with 4%, and the government which holds 49%, and a golden share” (NATS, n.d.). They operate in several different countries and have frown from a previous ownership by the CAA. Now the partnership is split with the CAA retaining control but allowing the airline group control over the treasury and input in direction of NATS (NATS, n.d.). These two groups invest funds to keep the ATC provider from falling under bankruptcy and even have policies to improve technology and a whistleblower protection program.

For ATC to become privatized in the United States, a few things would need to occur. One such thing would be to have a representative or senator propose such a bill to privatize ATC. Afterwards it would go to a committee where they would debate over the logistics of the bill, and when they would agree, they would send it to the Senate for the same process of debates. This cycle would continue until the bill died, due to inactivity or non-agreement, or it would be passed up to the President. The president would then veto or approve the law. If vetoed, the law would go back to Congress to be voted on again. If approved, the FAA would have to enact the law and change regulations as necessary which would lead to NPRMs on the subject for the aviation industry to comment on the new development. There is no passed or proposed bill indicating a change of ATC from the public to the private sector as of yet, but it has been known to come up every few years. At this point, there is no action on this front and it will be interesting to see how long the silence will sit this time.

5) Finally, do you feel that the current ATC system would be more efficient if it were privatized. Why or why not?

I feel that ATC becoming privatized would be both a good and bad thing. There would definitely be an incredible growth in the industry if NextGen and the NAS were moved to the private sector as a whole. The private sector has been known to launch projects such as these to greater heights then has ever been shown under public ownership. NextGen could be implemented very quickly and the system would be much more efficient. This would in turn cost more for the general aviation and air carriers to operate, but the cost would take a greater toll on the GA world. General Aviation could lose a lot of pilots as they would be unable or unwilling to pay for the new service fees. This would also raise rates for flight instruction and flight training and the pilot shortage would get much worse. The decision must be made then that if we move ATC into the private sector, would we be able to cope with the recoil in general aviation? This path is still unclear and I believe that answer will have to be made sooner than anyone expects.

References

Baker M., Bolen E. (November 21, 2017).  Air traffic control privatization is just an airline power grab. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/air-traffic-control-privatization-is-just-an-airline-power-grab

Breselor S. (February 24, 2015). WHY 40-YEAR-OLD TECH IS STILL RUNNING AMERICA'S AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2015/02/air-traffic-control/

Hirschman D. (October 10, 2017).  GA GROUPS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST ATC PRIVATIZATION. Retrieved from https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2017/october/10/ga-groups-launch-campaign-against-atc-privatization      

NATS. (n.d.) Our Company. Retrieved from https://www.nats.aero/