Calls The Idea 'A Solution Looking For A Problem'

Former AOPA president and CEO Craig Fuller, now an aviation consultant, says that the debate over the privatization of Air Traffic Control is nothing more than an solution in search of a problem to solve.

Writing for The Hill, Fuller (pictured) says that one need only look at the proponents of privatizations. Commercial airlines are among the most strident champions for privatizing ATC, saying they need more control through the eventual non-profit agency that would operate the system to be successful. At the same time, airline executives talk of "record achievements" while operating under the system they say is in such need of repair.

Fuller said that at a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit Michael Huerta, who is in the last year of his five-year term as FAA Administrator, said that the next administrator would benefit greatly from a steady and reliable funding source, access to capital for infrastructure projects, flexibility is spending money, and the freedom to make major purchasing decision without all the current impediments.

Fuller says the Trump administration should find a way to continue to use Huerta as a resource after his term expires later this year.

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