Dave Higdon/WICHITA
The outgoing Clinton Administration has directed the US Federal Aviation Administration to create a separate organisation to operate air traffic services more like a business.
Heralded as an initiative to reduce growing congestion, the executive orders create a "performance-based organisation" to operate the air traffic control system, and name a five-member board to oversee the new entity, thereby fulfilling the intent of legislation enacted by Congress earlier this year. But the Administration has gone further, renewing demands for user fees to fund the organisation. Congress has repeatedly refused to accept user fees.
The new Air Traffic Organisation "will be located within the FAA, but will be separate from, and overseen by, the FAA's safety oversight and enforcement arm," says the White House statement. The organisation will be managed by a chief operating officer, who will "negotiate a performance agreement with the FAA".
A board created by Congress in this year's AIR 21 FAA funding legislation will oversee the management and budget of the organisation. Named to this board are: John Cullinane, president of the Cullinane Group; former Kansas senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker; Leon Lynch, president of the United Steelworkers union; media expert Sharon Patrick and John Snow, chief executive of railroad company CSX.
To give the new organisation the financial tools the White House says it needs, the Administration has asked Congress to change the law to allow the FAA to levy cost-based fees on commercial users in lieu of the 10% ticket tax now collected from airline passengers, and to borrow funds from the federal treasury or private markets to finance capital investments.
The Clinton Administration also wants the organisation to be given the authority to levy "congestion-based" fees for using crowded routes and airports. "Charging airlines more to land at airports during peak hours could reduce congestion and delays," the White House says.
Reaction to the move is mixed. The action is widely seen as a last-ditch attempt by the outgoing Administration to introduce an air traffic services corporation funded by user fees, which has been rejected consistently by Congress.
Airlines are split, with large carriers wanting user charges while low-cost operators oppose them. Although the White House specifically says general aviation would continue to pay via a fuel tax, industry bodies - from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to the National Business Aviation Association - are opposed to any attempt to introduce user fees.
Representing controllers, the National Air Traffic Control Association welcomes the initiative as it steers clear of privatising US air traffic services.
Source: Flight International
