Judging by how the privatization of rail traffic in the UK worked out - terrible idea!
Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
11–20 of 90 posts
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#12Why . I don't get this at all. Why privatize? What is the benefit? All I see this doing is decreasing safety.
Simple. This is a union-busting move. This would squash the National Air Trafic Controllers Association[1] as a public union.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Air_Traffic_Controlle...
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
When did we decide efficiency was the goal of air traffic control? I want the thing to be effective and reliable, efficiency is way down the list here.
Do you think government performs better in that regard than well regulated private industry? There are plenty of air-traffic control horror stories, and it appears to be systemic: https://www.rt.com/usa/312138-secret-faa-study-chronic-fatig...
Don't forget to take everything RT says with a pretty major "grain of salt."
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#14> Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his proposal to hand over control of the U.S. air-traffic control system to a non-profit corporation, calling the current system an antiquated mess that doesn’t work and wastes money.
Did someone point out to this idiot that we are having a string of years where there are no deaths in domestic commercial travel. Whatever is happening in the US Traffic System appears to be working really well.
I also think that president holds a person vendetta against the FAA because it told him he could not land his plane somewhere or an air traffic controller delayed him by a couple of minutes.
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#15Why . I don't get this at all. Why privatize? What is the benefit? All I see this doing is decreasing safety.
Private organizations are more efficient than governmental ones. Ideally the way they are managed/regulated will remain the same. It would be really neat to see some innovation here as well, with governmental agencies there really isn't an incentive to break the status quo.
edit: If you're downvoting at least comment with why you think this isn't the case
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#16Why . I don't get this at all. Why privatize? What is the benefit? All I see this doing is decreasing safety.
Seems to have worked for Canada. Non-profit private sector organization, and they don't seem to have any more air disasters than anywhere else.
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#17There are already ATC towers that are operated by private companies, so in a way, this is just accelerating the existing trend.
That said, if it ain't broke, why bother trying to "fix" it? US air is the safest in the world, it's rules are literally written in blood. This is one area, where I'd like to see less, not more, privatization.
Safety, and not profit (or cost-reduction), should be the driving incentive for something so critical, and so fault-sensitive.
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#18Doesn't a lot of the expense of government run programs come from the retirement benefits? The government assumes the risk (pension) instead of the employee (401K).
As an aside, according to a controller I know, a lot of FAA employees are retiring soon and at about the same time. A large cohort of controllers were hired about the same time to replace the fired striking PATCO [1] controllers in the early 80's.
[1] PATCO Professional Air Traffic Controllers
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#19I'm cautious to say this is a good idea, but I'm also optimistic the private sector would be more efficient than the public sector.
When did we decide efficiency was the goal of air traffic control? I want the thing to be effective and reliable, efficiency is way down the list here.
Right, but part of efficiency improvements would probably include some level of automation, which would be more safe in the end.
Re: Trump announces plans to privatize US air traffic control system
#20I'm cautious to say this is a good idea, but I'm also optimistic the private sector would be more efficient than the public sector.
When did we decide efficiency was the goal of air traffic control? I want the thing to be effective and reliable, efficiency is way down the list here.
Perhaps efficiency was a bad word. The private sector is able to make changes and fix problems faster than the public sector. Easier to fire a bad controller, or fix a problem in a private environment.