Modernization, not privatization, is key to air traffic control success: Ed Bolen

For the first time in decades, the administration, the Congress and the aviation industry are united on a detailed and aggressive plan to build a new air traffic control system. In fact, Congress has already approved more than a third of the money necessary to complete the project.

Unfortunately, misguided proponents of privatizing air traffic control have predictably gone into overdrive in trying to distract from this effort to promote their privatization agenda. The fact is, privatized ATC systems are not a panacea — they are a problem.

The privatized ATC models in Canada, the European Union and elsewhere are beset with a host of well-documented flaws, including delays and disruptions caused by funding and management instability, staffing shortages, safety concerns, technology breakdow