The airlines are terrible at running their businesses, so let’s turn air traffic control over to them, says Andrew Schmertz, the CEO of Hopscotch Air, and a contributor to the Huffington Post. “What could go wrong?” he asks with tongue in cheek in a recent post.
He notes that the airlines have decades of losses in their own business and have filed for bankruptcy more times than anyone in history.
The airlines’ “naked power grab in their attempt to run Air Traffic Control, would potentially devastate general aviation,” he continues.
“In nations that have user fees for general aviation, general aviation suffers to the point of near non-existence,” he noted.
Read his full post here.
I flew in and out of Aspen’s Sardy Field for nine years in all kinds of weather. The air traffic services were private. I had the best and most reliable service in 50 years of flying.
Trying to get the FAA to change ATC procedures is like trying to roll a bean bag chair up a hill. Remember the microwave landing system? Nothing in a proposal to privatize says that federal monies would end. Like education reform in America, we have to realize that the entrenched bureaucracy is not giving us the air traffic control system we deserve.
Privatizing ATC is the first step in true efforts to destroy GA. I hope everyone watches who is pushing this. Notice the “-R” after each name. The next step will be user fees like Europe. I’m willing to bet you’ll see more “-R” supporting user fees.
Just hand over your credit card and they will charge user fees accordingly. That is how
it works in those Privatized countries. You pay for a weather briefing, ramp fees, taxi, takeoff
and tower fees. Enroute fees (both VFR and IFR). Landing fees, fire and emergency fees.