THE UK CIVIL Aviation Authority is encouraging the Government to press ahead with the privatisation of the nation's National Air Traffic Services, despite the collapse of the first attempt in 1994.
CAA chiefs say that the air-traffic-control system has a £100 million-a-year investment requirement, largely for modernisation, which cannot be fulfilled from the public sector.
A CAA source says that the Authority will use a UK mechanism known as a private-finance initiative to raise capital for the new Scottish ATC centre.
That is not a viable way forward for the future, however, says the source, and the Government will be urged to include NATS privatisation in its legislation programme for 1996.
Source: Flight International
