Shuster Says He Has Discussed The Issue With The President-Elect Several Times

The chairman of the House Transportation Committee says that President-elect Donald Trump is open to the idea of privatizing Air Traffic Control in the U.S., as has been done in Canada and Europe. Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) said that he has discussed the idea with Trump several times both during the campaign and after the election, according to the Associated Press.

Shuster said that while he believes President-elect Trump will be supportive of spinning ATC off from the FAA and placing it under the auspices of a non-profit corporation chartered by Congress, no details have been worked out. Shuster said he has had several meetings with Trump, and "he generally likes the idea. We do need to sit down and put meat on the bones."

Shuster tried to add privatization of ATC to the FAA reauthorization bill passed by Congress last year. It passed the committee, but he was unable to get a vote from the full house on the provision, and it was eventually scrapped.  Privatization is generally supported by airlines, but opposed by GA and business aviation groups who are concerned about user fees that may be imposed to help pay for the system.

Shuster's counterpart in the U.S. Senate ... Commerce Committee Chair John Thune(R-SD) ... told the AP that the FAA is still struggling to bring fundamental change to the Air Traffic Control system through NextGen despite spending billions of dollars. He said Congress is keeping its options open, but the case for taking ATC away from the FAA has "become stronger."

(Image from file)

FMI: http://transportation.house.gov, www.commerce.senate.gov