Nonprofit airline passenger rights organization FlyersRights.org has hit out at plans to turn over air traffic control to the US airline industry, which it describes as ‘the least capable industry’ able to run it efficiently.
President Trump yesterday welcomed airline CEOs to the White House to tout a privatized air traffic control system which the group calls an ‘airline controlled corporate monopoly.’
"This unfortunately provides another political handout to a highly-concentrated industry with a terrible track record of leaving passengers on the tarmac for hours without food and water, cramming paying customers into inhumane seats, and verbally and physically assaulting them all while charging for everything under the sun," said Kate Hanni, FlyersRights.org founder.
Air traffic control privatization would not help alleviate delays and would in fact likely disrupt air traffic control modernization, the group says.
"Adopting this scheme would mean handing the airlines control over a core public asset, and providing them nearly unbridled power to extract new fees and increased taxes from passengers," said group president Paul Hudson, who is a member of the FAA Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee.
The President announced plans for privatization in a typically brusque manner.
"Honestly, they didn’t know what the hell they were doing. A total waste of money," he said, referring to the FAA.
"Today we’re proposing to take American air travel into the future, finally," he said.
The plan to privatize air traffic control will likely be added to legislation re-authorizing the FAA and will first be discussed at the Senate Transportation Committee this week.
