President Donald Trump announced a plan to privatize, for the first time since the start of commercial aviation in the United States, the national air traffic control system. The aim is to transfer it to a self-financing non-profit company.
Under the new plan, which requires congressional approval, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will focus on air safety, while the new entity will be responsible for determining the efficiency of the routes, the timely service and the reduction of timeouts. «It’s time to join the future. Let’s launch this air traffic revolution by modernizing the outdated air traffic control system», he told officials, legislators, business leaders and pilots at a White House meeting.
Trump argued that his proposal not only had the support but it was even built with the ideas of air traffic controllers. He said he is backed by former FAA administrators as well as by former Transportation secretaries, pilots and airline leaders. «Dozens of countries have made similar changes with great results and we are going to win them by far. Canada is an example that modernized air traffic with a non-governmental organization 20 years ago and significantly lowered costs and adopted modern technology», he said.
Trump argued that the current system causes unacceptable delays in air terminals, long waits on takeoff and landing runways, and a slowdown in trade and passenger traffic at a cost of $ 25 billion a year. He said his proposal will reduce waiting times, increase route efficiencies and reduce airport delays.