Opposing FAA reauthorization bills introduced in House, Senate

The House of Representative’s 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act includes a controversial provision to separate air traffic control duties from the administration, while the Senate’s FAA Reauthorization Act of 2017 does not.    Two opposing bills reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were introduced in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Thursday.
   The primary sticking point between the Senate’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2017 (S. 1405) and the House version, the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2997), known as the 21st Century AIRR Act for short, is a controversial proposal to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system.
   The House bill would fund federal aviation programs for six years and aims to separate air traffic control duties from the FAA, while Senate bill is a four-year reauthorization that does not include a provision to privatize air traffic control.
   The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2017 is sponsored by Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Ranking Member Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; along with Aviation Operations, Safety, & Security Subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
   The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) said it supports the Senate bill’s “lack of controversial language to privatize ATC (air traffic control) oversight. NBAA has long had significant concerns with the notion of privatizing ATC, which would turn control over the ATC system – a natural monopoly that currently serves the public’s interest, and is overseen by the public’s elected representatives in Congress – to a new entity governed by private interests.”
   Meanwhile, the 21st Century AIRR Act, sponsored by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., Aviation Subcommittee Vice Chair Paul Mitchell, R-Mich., Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, and Rep. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., “provides a number of important provisions and reforms to reduce red tape in the FAA’s certification process for aircraft and aviation products, improve the safety of air travel, improve the flying experience for consumers, foster innovation in unmanned aircraft systems, fund the nation’s airport infrastructure, and separate our antiquated air traffic control service from the federal government and help finally modernize the system,” according to the House T&I committee.
   “This bill is about giving all Americans the safe and efficient, 21st century aviation system they deserve while keeping America the leader in aviation,” Shuster said in a statement. “We have the busiest aviation system in the world, and though it’s safe, it’s also inefficient, costly, and unable to keep up with growing demand or developing technology.”
   Three unions – the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, and the Allied Pilots Association – expressed support for the 21st Century AIRR Act in a joint press release, saying the bill “will expedite the overdue modernization of the national airspace system.”
   The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) also expressed support for the 21st Century AIRR Act.
   “After extremely careful review, consideration, and deliberation, we have decided to support the bill because it fully aligns with the NATCA’s policies, practices, and core principles,” said NATCA President Paul Rinaldi. “We made sure that we clearly understood how this bill would protect the national airspace system and allow it to continue to grow, as well as how it would protect the men and women who are the backbone of the system. This bill protects our workforce – including pay, benefits, retirement and collective bargaining rights.”
   Despite the support, the 21st Century AIRR Act is facing some heat from the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS), which represents 11,000 employees at the FAA.
   In response to the legislation, PASS National President Mike Perrone said, “Privatizing the largest and most complex aviation system in the world is a risk not worth taking at this pivotal point in its modernization.”
   PASS said it believes that privatizing the air traffic control system will reverse major advancements in modernization that have been made while compromising safety.
    President Donald Trump has said he would back plans to shift in the air traffic control function of the FAA to a private, non-profit entity, but CNBC released results Tuesday from a survey conducted by Hart Research Associates that found most Americans do not agree with the change.
   Frederick Hill, a spokesman for the Senate Commerce committee, told American Shipper that if both the House bill and the Senate version pass, the two chambers would likely hold a formal or informal conference committee to negotiate and reconcile a single agreement.