Harshly Criticizes The FAA For 'Wasting' Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars

President Donald Trump has announced his plan for shifting Air Traffic Control from the FAA to a private, nonprofit corporation in a speech from the East Room of the White House, though few if any details were revealed.

In the 11 minute speech, Trump criticized the FAA for continuing to use a system that is "stuck painfully in the past", and the billions of dollars he said have been "wasted" on its modernization efforts to bring NextGen online. The FAA has "totally failed ... they didn't know what they were doing," Trump said. "The FAA has been trying to upgrade our nation's air traffic control system for a long period of years. But after billions and billions of tax dollars spent, and the many years of delays, we're still stuck with an ancient, broken, antiquated, horrible system that doesn't work. Other than that, it's quite good

"We are proposing to take American air travel into the future," Trump said. "Our plan will get where you need to go more quickly, more reliably and affordably."

Trump said that the infrastructure for the new system will be bid out, with the expectation of selecting "one great company that can piece it all together. Not many companies all over the United States like in the past. When it came time to piece it together, it didn't work."

Trump said that the nonprofit formed to run Air Traffic Control would be "self financing." A "new entity that will not need taxpayer money" for its operation. He said that the plan would mean a reduction in airfares, because 20 percent of the price of a ticket would not be going to the federal government for air traffic control. He added that the plan would mean more stability and growth opportunities for the controllers themselves, as the "best equipment in the world." He also promised continued support for smaller airport, and that the privatized system would support the thousands of jobs associated with aviation in the U.S.  

Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao were among those joining Trump on stage for the announcement. There were also several airline executives in the room, as well as representatives of passenger advocacy groups and controller and pilot unions, all of whom, he said, strongly support privatization. Noticeably absent from the East Room stage was FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

"If we adopt these changes, Americans can look forward to cheaper, safer and faster travel," Trump concluded. "And ... you won't have to sit on the tarmac or circle for hours and hours over an airport, which is very dangerous, before you land."

The FAA will continue to "focus firmly on what it does best ... safety."

(Image from White House video)

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov, www.faa.gov