Democracy may have notched another coup on 10 November, but it was a bitterly disappointing day for the US air traffic control (ATC) system and the nation's airports.
The Federal Aviation Administration's Reauthorisation Bill once again failed to be passed, which will necessitate another year of short-term funding extensions for the FAA and the Airport Improvement Programme. Without authorisation, the FAA is hamstrung and cannot put into place its plans to turn ATC into a performance-based organisation with a chief operating officer. Critical long-term investments cannot be made; the much-hated trust fund remains a potential open treasury that can be raided by other government departments and the FAA has no stable, long-term budget on which it can rely.
Airports managers, too, are frustrated. They find themselves under pressure to increase access to new entrant carriers. But new gates, at a cost of up to $20 million a time, are not a light undertaking. The Department of Transportation (DoT) has proposed, as part of reauthorisation, allowing individual authorities the right to increase the maximum passenger facility charge (PFC) from $3 to $5 per ticket, provided the extra money would be used to increase airport access and enhance competition.
Greater flexibility
Most airports would welcome the greater flexibility that a PFC rise would give them, but they must now also sit with the status quo for another year. About 400 new gates have been added to US airports since 1989 and another 400 are expected to open by 2004 - but that will still be short of what is required to cope with demand. US start-up carriers are clamouring for more gate access; major carriers want to increase frequency; and the surge of regional jets has stepped up pressure.
Gates are only part of the problem, however. Calls are being made for drastic changes in the ATC system. During November's aviation infrastructure summit, organised by the George Washington University and held in Washington DC, there were repeated calls from US major carrier chiefs to resolve the ATC crisis. Gordon Bethune, chief executive at Continental Airlines, wants a privatised ATC system and points to Canada's Nav Canada as an example of how a private company with the freedom to set its own fees and control its long-term budgets can provide a more efficient service while also lowering charges.
"I have never known a government agency which is quick and nimble," says Bethune. "Our air traffic controllers are doing a good job, but they need the tools and the technology. The only way that will happen is to take it out of the government's hands and run the ATC system like a proper business."
American Airlines' chairman Don Carty also has called for structural reform of the FAA and a fair, consistent and predictable stream of financing. He stops short of full privatisation, however. "The bottom line is that the FAA needs to become more like a business in the way it uses its resources," says Carty. "I am not talking about privatisation per se, but it is high time we injected some private sector discipline into the way the FAA is managed."
United Airlines' president Rono Dutta, meanwhile, points to the current funding system as the major hindrance to progress. He notes that the airline industry paid $19 billion in taxes and fees in 1998, but only $6 billion was spent on aviation. Some $3 billion disappeared, he says - "maybe into cyberspace."
But Carty and Dutta also recognise the other key problem. While everyone knows there is an urgent need for action and change, the industry has yet to speak to Congress in a strong and uniform voice. Consequently, the congressional debate keeps rolling as each congressman fights to preserve his small part of the Reauthorisation Bill. The victim is the Bill, which once again came whisker-close to being passed on 10 November and once again fell apart when a compromise could not be struck. As United's Dutta points out: "People keep throwing out suggestions and someone else shoots them down. We need to speak in a unified voice."
Continental's Bethune, meanwhile, might just have the solution which could prompt Congress to act decisively and to which everyone would agree. He proposes assigning middle seats to all congressmen until they pass the Bill.
Source: Airline Business
