Trump Announces Plan To Privatize Air Traffic Control

[ZiprHead]

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/05/531574945/trump-announces-plan-to-privatize-air-traffic-control

Guided by legislation that has been proposed in the past by House Transportation Committee chairman Bill Shuster, a private, non-profit corporation would be created to operate, manage and control ATC nationwide, similar to what Canada does. The FAA would still have some oversight capacity, but a board made up mostly of representatives of the major airlines would govern this corporation.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Of course, in America, we'll have people from India directing our airplanes to save money. Our ATC has been antiquated since the 1990s, will this address that, as in, develop a whole new system and then transition over, or are they looking just to transfer from Federal to Private control?

 

[untermensche]

This is just a way to open up investment for a select few.

Nothing will improve.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

"Upstart Air flight 243 we have concourse D-42 waiting for you. Please wait in a holding pattern for a few more minutes before landing, Delta Flight 3653 will be arriving in 15 minutes and they have landing priority, cause."

 

[dismal]

This is just a way to open up investment for a select few.

Yes, the ranks of the non-profit investors are indeed few.

 

[untermensche]

This is just a way to open up investment for a select few.

Yes, the ranks of the non-profit investors are indeed few.

Point?

 

[Nice Squirrel]

This is just a way to open up investment for a select few.

Yes, the ranks of the non-profit investors are indeed few.

Interesting. You do know that for-profits often have "non-profits" as subsidiaries. For example, United Health is a for-profit Minnesota-based insurance company. It is forbidden to offer insurance and health care delivery and make a profit. Therefore it has set up a non-profit to provide these services in Minnesota. This does not mean that this non-profit does not benefit it's parent business as it can purchase products and services from United Health.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Also, you can fill the board of a non-profit with members of select airlines and put in policies to benefit those airlines.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It isn't exactly crazy to go non-profit for this, it is just that if Trump wants to do it, I fear airline accidents because the pilots won't understand Russian. Or flights being blackmailed by Air Traffic Control.

Dah, you have runway two-niner clear for approach, all you need do is forward your and the co-pilot's credit card numbers and expiration dates. Over.

 

[dismal]

Yes, the ranks of the non-profit investors are indeed few.

Interesting. You do know that for-profits often have "non-profits" as subsidiaries. For example, United Health is a for-profit Minnesota-based insurance company. It is forbidden to offer insurance and health care delivery and make a profit. Therefore it has set up a non-profit to provide these services in Minnesota. This does not mean that this non-profit does not benefit it's parent business as it can purchase products and services from United Health.

Yes, no doubt there is an evil plan afoot to force this air traffic control company to buy airline services from airlines. You've cracked their foul and rapacious (non)profiteering scheme.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Interesting. You do know that for-profits often have "non-profits" as subsidiaries. For example, United Health is a for-profit Minnesota-based insurance company. It is forbidden to offer insurance and health care delivery and make a profit. Therefore it has set up a non-profit to provide these services in Minnesota. This does not mean that this non-profit does not benefit it's parent business as it can purchase products and services from United Health.

Yes, no doubt there is an evil plan afoot to force this air traffic control company to buy airline services from airlines. You've cracked their foul and rapacious (non)profiteering scheme.

No, I'm just saying that they might exercise undue influence on air traffic. For example, an airline that needs to improve its on-time record.

 

[dismal]

Yes, no doubt there is an evil plan afoot to force this air traffic control company to buy airline services from airlines. You've cracked their foul and rapacious (non)profiteering scheme.

No, I'm just saying that they might exercise undue influence on air traffic. For example, an airline that needs to improve its on-time record.

Would do what?

 

[Keith&Co.]

No, I'm just saying that they might exercise undue influence on air traffic. For example, an airline that needs to improve its on-time record.

Would do what?

Set up the policies so that puddle jumpers get put in holding patterns while bigger airline planes get fast-tracked to landings, or priorities in take-off order.

Probably won't say 'airlines with votes on the non-profit get priority' but weight it so that, say, planes with the greater number of passengers onboard gets the priority. Pilgrim Air will never really be able to compete with United on such a basis.

American Airlines gets sent to empty gates while Alaskan Air has to park and wait for another plane to clear their assigned gate.

After all, it's unlikely the major carriers have been donating to Shuster's campaigns in order to make things HARDER for themselves.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

And here is what's most likely to happen (Hint: It will quash competition.)

The plan did not originate with Trump. It actually comes from the airline industry, and its biggest champion in Congress, House Transportation Committee chair Bill Shuster, is literally sleeping with an airline industry lobbyist. It’s no worry because the lobbyist “doesn’t lobby my office,” Shuster reassured reporters in 2015. I would think she doesn’t need to.

… You can also see the influence of the airline industry in how the new system would be funded. Gone would be taxes on airline passengers. In their place would be fees on aircraft … The Big Four airlines have more ability to absorb these costs than start-up competitors or regional carriers that serve smaller cities. Lifting passenger fees would simply give the dominant carriers more legroom (unlike their passengers) to increase their own fees, either through higher fares or endless add-ons for another inch of space or a snack box or carry-on baggage or a pillow. Delta, actually an opponent of privatization, confirmed this in a study last year, showing that travelers would pay 20-29 percent higher costs if the U.S. shifted air traffic control from the FAA. And because of the Big Four’s extreme volume, they can pass on user fee costs in a way the competition cannot.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligence...cture-plan-privatize-air-traffic-control.html

 

[bilby]

This is just a way to open up investment for a select few.

Yes, the ranks of the non-profit investors are indeed few.

Few, but wealthy. We call them 'governments'.

 

[RavenSky]

And here is what's most likely to happen (Hint: It will quash competition.)

The plan did not originate with Trump. It actually comes from the airline industry, and its biggest champion in Congress, House Transportation Committee chair Bill Shuster, is literally sleeping with an airline industry lobbyist. It’s no worry because the lobbyist “doesn’t lobby my office,” Shuster reassured reporters in 2015. I would think she doesn’t need to.

… You can also see the influence of the airline industry in how the new system would be funded. Gone would be taxes on airline passengers. In their place would be fees on aircraft … The Big Four airlines have more ability to absorb these costs than start-up competitors or regional carriers that serve smaller cities. Lifting passenger fees would simply give the dominant carriers more legroom (unlike their passengers) to increase their own fees, either through higher fares or endless add-ons for another inch of space or a snack box or carry-on baggage or a pillow. Delta, actually an opponent of privatization, confirmed this in a study last year, showing that travelers would pay 20-29 percent higher costs if the U.S. shifted air traffic control from the FAA. And because of the Big Four’s extreme volume, they can pass on user fee costs in a way the competition cannot.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligence...cture-plan-privatize-air-traffic-control.html

Thanks for posting this