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National Business
Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen has
issued a statement, regarding comments made in
conjunction with a meeting between President Donald
Trump and several airline CEOs, which included
discussion of creating a privatized Air Traffic
Control (ATC) system, funded by user fees - a
concept long pushed by the airlines.
“We’re delighted
that, in today’s meeting, the president made clear
that aviation modernization is important - that’s a
goal with which we agree, and the business aviation
community will continue to be at the forefront of
aviation-modernization efforts,” Bolen said. “We
very much welcome the opportunity to work with the
new president and the Congress to advance this goal
in a way that serves all Americans, not just those
in the country’s largest cities with commercial
airline hubs.
“That said, we are
concerned that in today’s meeting, it appears that
some airline interests wanted to shift the
conversation away from taking a bipartisan approach
to modernization, to focus instead on their
decades-long objective of privatizing ATC, funding
it with new user fees, and placing it under the
governing control of a self-interested,
airline-centric board of directors,” Bolen
continued.
“The fact is, in
this important debate, there are two sides,” Bolen
added. “The president may have heard the airlines’
position today, but surveys of everyday Americans
have repeatedly shown that, by a significant
majority, citizens oppose the notion of creating a
privatized ATC system. The concerns of these
citizens are well-founded – after all, the nation’s
aviation system is a public asset, intended to serve
the entire public, including the people and
businesses in the small towns and rural areas that
rely on general aviation.
“If a select group
of airline interests is given sweeping authority
over the aviation system, decisions about a host of
matters, including which cities and airports get
served, could be left solely in the hands of those
interests. That scenario opens the door for
countless communities served by general aviation to
be left behind.
“It’s clear that
there are real and significant concerns about the
notion of ATC privatization funded through new user
fees. It’s important that the president hear from
all voices in the debate over this matter, and not
just from a small, special-interest group of airline
CEOs,” Bolen concluded. |
