President Donald Trump made air traffic control reform the centerpiece today of his launch of a multi-modal infrastructure campaign, providing a more detailed look at his push for an independent not-for-profit ATC organization that would be fully user funded. Holding a press briefing at the East Room of the White House, Trump laid out his vision for the organization that would be run by an independent board appointed by the Transportation Secretary. “We’re proposing to take American air travel into the future…finally,” Trump said. “Under this new plan the FAA will focus firmly on what it does best: safety.”

House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania), the chief architect of the independent ATC proposal, joined Trump during today’s announcement. The White House credited Shuster’s proposal as providing “a good foundation” for the concept and released its “Principles for Modernizing the U.S. Air Traffic Control System” that it says improves upon the concept. “ATC reform presents an exciting infrastructure improvement opportunity, and its completion will demonstrate early progress toward much needed infrastructure reform across all sectors,” the White House said.

The principles outline protections aimed at addressing general aviation, rural community, Department of Defense and security concerns. “All users, including the general aviation industry and emerging new entrants, must have open access to our nation's airspace…the new entity must maintain access and services to rural community and general aviation users.” As for military access, the principles also discussed continued military access and ability to enforce temporary airspace restrictions.

At the same time the principles also outlined a pay-for-access system, saying, “The new ATC entity would grant FAA-certified users access to the NAS, subject to their participation in the system's user fees, their being equipped as necessary to fly in controlled airspace and their compliance with other applicable rules and regulations.”

The organization “must be fully and financially self-sufficient through the collection of user fees that cover both its costs of operations and recapitalization,” according to the principles. “Users should have input in the fees and their structure…All users should pay their fair share.” However, it does not specify whether certain segments general aviation would be exempt as called for in past proposals.

Under the White House proposal, the fees could not be reviewed or approved by Congress. The only recourse would be review by the Secretary of Transportation and the determination of the secretary would be “final and not subject to judicial review.”

The White House budget released last month would eliminate the airline ticket tax, but keep other excise taxes in place (at a rate to be determined), including fuel taxes and cargo fees, to fund the Airport Improvement Program and the rest of the FAA. The White House expects the general fund would cover the shortfall between those taxes and the costs. However, some estimates are that the proposal could result in a deficit of as much as $45 billion from Fiscal Year 2021 through Fiscal 2027.

The FAA would could make safety reviews of route changes, but the principles add, such changes “would only be subject to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review if the change exceeds the FAA-established noise threshold.”

The proposal would seek to honor existing labor agreements and maintain the ban on controller strikes.

Plans call for a three-year transition period overseen by the DOT secretary. All the assets owned by the FAA would be transferred at no charge. Under the White House vision, the organization would be managed by a professional board of directors that have a “a fiduciary responsibility solely to the new ATC entity.” The organization should represent all users and “no group should have even the appearance of influence over the board of directors.” The Transportation Secretary would select eight members from candidates supplied by “nominating groups” representing a spectrum of stakeholders.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is expected to discuss the proposal further during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Commitee hearing scheduled for Thursday.

While protections were outlined to preserve general aviation access, GA groups were unswayed in their opposition. The groups plan to send a joint letter to the Trump Administration later today expressing their concerns. “It’s difficult to see how one ‘Makes America Great Again’ by emulating foreign air traffic systems that are smaller and demonstrably less safe than our own,” said National Air Transportation Association president Martin Hiller in reaction to the details released today. “The Trump proposal introduces significant uncertainty to the world’s largest, most complex and safest air traffic control system, offering a radical solution to issues easily addressed within the FAA’s current framework. Surprisingly, the proposal also makes little business sense; it does nothing to address the need for additional airport infrastructure investment but adds significantly to annual budget deficits and increases the costs to be borne by the non-flying public.”

NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen remained wary of the underlying objectives of ATC reform and long-term ramfications. “Unfortunately, the recent discussion about privatization is really about the airlines’ push to gain more control over our air traffic control system, so that they can run it for their own benefit, and is a sideshow to a serious and constructive discussion about building on the progress currently underway on NextGen,” Bolen said. “We are concerned that those left behind under ATC privatization would be the citizens, companies and communities that rely on general aviation for all manner of services.''

Meanwhile, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association took aim at the user fee aspect. “While AOPA is open to proposals aimed at making the air traffic control system more efficient and delivering technology in a timely and cost effective manner, we have consistently said we will not support policies that impose user fees on general aviation,” added AOPA president and CEO Mark Baker. “As the air traffic debate continues, we are also concerned about the impact of these proposed reforms on general aviation based on what we have seen in other countries."

The Trump Administration unveils the proposal ostensibly with critical support from Defense Secretary James Mattis, who wrote that the Department of Defense is “supportive of possible privatization.” But it remains to see if the proposal retains the backing of another critical organization – the controllers union.

While the National Air Traffic Controllers Association had backed the independent ATC concept as unveiled last year, the association was more measured in its response to the Trump proposal. “NATCA shares the Administration’s commitments to infrastructure modernization and providing the National Airspace System (NAS) with a stable, predictable funding stream,” said NATCA president Paul Rinaldi. “We look forward to reviewing the specifics of the air traffic control (ATC) reform legislation so we can evaluate whether it satisfies our union’s principles, including protecting the rights and benefits of the ATC workforce.”

Regardless, the proposal still faces an uphill battle on Capitol Hill. Most Democrats and appropriations leaders on both side of the aisle have been vocal opponents to removing ATC from congressional purview.