Lautenberg Air Traffic Control Amendment of 2003
The Air Traffic Control Amendment would maintain the safety and security of our nation's air traffic control system. Attempted cost-cutting through privatization could sacrifice safety and security of our national aviation system and could end up costing the taxpayers more. The amendment has bipartisan support.
The U.S. aviation industry is in financial crisis and cannot afford to experiment with our current level
of safety.
- American air traffic controllers guide 9 million flights a year with more than 600 million passengers, by far the largest in the world.
- The U.S. air traffic control system is clearly the safest and most efficient. U.S. controllers do their jobs with higher competency and attention to safety than those of any country.
- We have, through wise legislation, demanded that baggage screeners be federal employees. As a government, we should be equally clear that air traffic controllers should also be federal employees, entirely accountable to the public.
Other countries have tried this before and the results have been disastrous:
- In Great Britain, since privatization, near misses of crashes or other problems have increased by 50%. Delays caused by air traffic control have increased by 20%. The air traffic system's finances have also been mismanaged to the point where debt service has increased by 80%. FAA's record on management of contractors is not stellar (see USDOT Inspector General Report #AV-2003-002).
- Canada's privatized system has run up a $145 million deficit just in the past year. As a result, an assessment will be tacked on to every airline ticket purchased there.
- Australia is planning to increase fees to pay for its private system.
Since September 11, the FAA has been hastily moving in the direction of privatizing the workforce under the public's radar screen. A recent federal court decision (National Air Traffic Controllers Association v. Norman Mineta, Ohio-Northern District, Case No. 1:99 CV 1152), found that FAA may have abused its discretion and acted in bad faith in its rush to privatize air traffic control. Congress, however, should be making these important decisions and should be clear about its intent.
The Air traffic Control Amendment will return the following air traffic functions to 'inherently governmental':
- Air Traffic Controllers (air traffic control and separation functions only);
- Air Traffic Control Specialists (qualified technicians who certify, maintain, and repair the equipment critical to the system); and
- Flight Service Station Controllers (provide temporary flight restriction alerts, weather alerts, and emergency information to pilots).
The FAA 'Contract Tower' program, which involves smaller, mostly visual flight rules (VFR) airports, would NOT be affected by the amendment.
