https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/new...-230992-1.html

Privatization Fight Continues

By Russ Niles | June 18, 2018

To no one’s surprise, those in favor of splitting air traffic control
from the FAA are busy planning their next move. After a last-minute
grassroots lobbying effort blocked an amendment snuck into the FAA
reauthorization bill passed last month that would have laid the legal
groundwork for such a move, the CEO of one of the U.S.’s largest
airlines was musing about the next steps in front of a friendly
audience at the Economic Club of Washington earlier this month
https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/eaa-news-...-privatization
.. EAA caught a story in Politico that quoted United Airlines CEO Oscar
Munoz as saying it’s already a topic of conversation when CEOs meet.
“The airline industry is trying to formulate what the next plan would
be,” Munoz told Politico “There's an outline coming together, but
it'll be some time before we all get aligned around it.”

He further said that once the airlines decide what they want they’ll
“provide that input and then work with the government to make that
move forward.” Well, forewarned is forearmed so EAA says it’s not
going to be that easy. “As EAA noted when the ATC privatization
proposal in the House was withdrawn earlier this year, any celebration
should be tempered with a guarded eye toward efforts by proponents to
revitalize the effort in the future,” it said in its recent story. The
plan that has so far been thwarted involves setting up a
not-for-profit corporation that raises its funding directly from those
using the national airspace system. The “user pay” model is opposed by
general aviation groups that say the resulting corporation will turn
over control of the system to the airlines. “EAA and other GA
organizations support the continued modernization of the national
airspace system, but not at the cost of equal access to the airspace
or minimizing GA’s important role within the nation’s aviation
infrastructure,” EAA said in its report.
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https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/eaa-news-...-privatization

EAA Remains Vigilant: Airlines Not Giving up on ATC Privatization
June 14, 2018 - As EAA noted when the ATC privatization proposal in
the House was withdrawn earlier this year, any celebration should be
tempered with a guarded eye toward efforts by proponents to revitalize
the effort in the future. That seems to be already occurring.

As reported in Politico a few days ago, words from United Airlines CEO
Oscar Munoz indicate a renewed effort could be coming soon. As
reported by Politico’s Tanya Snyder:

Airlines are beginning to figure out their next step in efforts to
“modernize” the air traffic control system, but it'll still be a while
before anything is made public, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz told
reporters [on June 7].

In an event at the Economic Club of Washington, Munoz acknowledged his
disappointment at the failure of a plan, supported by the airlines, to
separate air traffic control from the FAA.

“The airline industry is trying to formulate what the next plan would
be,” Munoz said after the event. “There's an outline coming together,
but it'll be some time before we all get aligned around it.”

He said after the airlines coalesce around a plan, they'll “provide
that input and then work with the government to make that move
forward.”

EAA and other GA organizations support the continued modernization of
the national airspace system, but not at the cost of equal access to
the airspace or minimizing GA’s important role within the nation’s
aviation infrastructure. Tens of thousands of EAA members made their
voices heard to their congressional representatives over the past two
years, opposing any plan that would turn over a national asset to a
governing board dominated by airline interests.