Your column (“Take back air traffic control,” Sept. 19) missed the mark about air traffic control privatization, and its impact for communities across our state and country. To be clear, what is being debated is a proposal that would take away congressional oversight over our air traffic control system and put it in the hands of a board of private industry interests.
Under such a plan, investment in the communities and airports that form the backbone of our air transportation system would be in question as the airlines would be able to direct resources and access to the airports and communities that most benefit their bottom line. In the last decade or so, the airlines have already reduced flights to small and mid-sized airports by about 20 percent, focusing on the most profitable hub-to-hub routes instead.
Most of all, this move would do nothing to alleviate delays or reduce congestion or solve any of the issues that plague customers on a daily basis. If anything these problems would get worse as the airlines would have even less incentive to act competitively.
We need congressional oversight and public accountability to ensure that the system works in the interest of all communities across the country, and in the interest of all Americans, not to the advantage of the airlines.
Donald Weishuhn
Farwell