Potentially Will Add $20 To $46 Billion To The Figure

Privatizing Air Traffic Control will potentially add $20 to $46 billion to the federal deficit, according to the the budget released by the White House.

USA Today reports that according to President Trump's budget, the shift of ATC from the FAA to a private, non-profit corporation would raise the deficit $46 billion over the next 10 years. But the same document argues that $26 billion of that can be attributed to growth at the FAA over the same period, and that the actual cost of privatizing ATC would be about $20 billion. The budget documents states that regardless of the final number, the key is to accommodate projected growth in air traffic.

Rick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), said that the administration takes the forecast "very seriously." Democratic lawmakers are already lining up against the proposal. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), the senior minority member of the Senate Commerce Committee has questioned spending "billions of taxpayer dollars to fix an air traffic control system that isn't broken and is safe."

Privatization will be debated as part of the larger FAA reauthorization bill later this year. Moving ATC out from the auspices of the FAA is strongly supported by airlines, but strongly opposed by GA and business aviation stakeholders, who fear that user fees will disproportionately affect those segments of the aviation industry.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov/omb