US airlines and major US airports voiced support for USFederal Aviation Administration funding reauthorisation legislation to be voted on by Congress in September, but key congressional Democrats plan to fight the bill.
The law contains a provision for air traffic control privatisation that the Democrats and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union oppose.
US Congress is on summer recess, but Democrat senator Frank Lautenberg says there will be a "tug of war" over the $58 billion FAA 2004-6 funding bill when legislators return to Washington DC next month. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed separate FAA funding bills earlier this year.
Under the conference report bill, 69 smaller ATC towers can be privatised immediately, all ATC could be privatised in four years, and federal ATC certification and maintenance technicians could be replaced by the private sector.
Source: Flight International
