CEO DATELINE - Airlines association pushes to privatize air traffic control
CEO DATELINE - Airlines association pushes to privatize air traffic control
- February 12, 2016 |
-
Walt Williams
Consider joining CEO Update. Membership gives full access to the latest intelligence on association management, career advancement, compensation trends and networking events, as well as hundreds of listings for senior-level association jobs.
A bill that would turn over the government-run air traffic control system to a private, nonprofit corporation has cleared its first hurdle in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act cleared the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Thursday over objections of minority Democrats who complain the bill is a giveaway to the nation's largest airline carriers, according to the Associated Press. The legislation would create a 10-member committee to oversee the new nonprofit board with Airlines for America choosing four of the initial members.
That level of input by A4A, which represents the nation's largest airlines, worries critics of the bill. However, association CEO Nick Calio argues that a nonprofit board representing both public and private interests would result in lower fuel consumption by airplanes as well as fewer traffic delays.
"Delivering a more efficient system with proper governance, funding and accountability will bolster our nation's first-rate safety record and make flying better—and at no additional cost to travelers. We thank the committee for its strong, bipartisan commitment to making our national airspace even safer and more efficient, and urge passage of the AIRR Act," he said. http://bit.ly/1V8YRRG
One group opposing the legislation is the Alliance for Aviation Across American, a coalition whose members includes the National Agricultural Aviation Association and National Association of State Aviation Officials. The group issued a joint statement from small city mayors arguing the privatization would hurt the county's rural regions.
"In a privatized system dominated by commercial interests, consumers and smaller communities would come last—these are citizens who have already faced record fees, cuts to air service by 20 percent and are getting crammed into smaller and smaller seat spaces," they said. http://bit.ly/20Q9S1b
MORE CEO DATELINE