NBAA: Bill Has Language Reinstating the BARR
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved H.R. 2112, a funding package
for several government agencies, including the Department of
Transportation. The bill, which must be reconciled with a different
version passed by the U.S. House, addresses the FAA's ATC
modernization and NextGen programs, Essential Air Service, and
other issues. What it doesn't do is resolve long-term funding
issues for the FAA, which is being considered separately by the
legislature.
It does, however, reinstating the Block Aircraft Registration
(BARR) program. "We thank the Senate for approving this bill with
language to restore the BARR program, and we hope the House will
finalize legislation to reinstate the program as soon as possible,"
said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen.
The language is included in Section 119A of the bill
states:
"Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, none of the funds made available under this Act
or any prior Act may be used to implement or to continue to
implement any limitation on the ability of any owner or operator of
a private aircraft to obtain, upon a request to the Administrator
of the Federal Aviation Administration, a blocking of that
owner’s or operator’s aircraft registration number from
any display of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aircraft
Situational Display to Industry data that is made available to the
public, except data made available to a Government agency, for the
noncommercial flights of that owner or operator."
The bill, which passed November 1 by a 69-30 vote, now returns
to the House for final consideration. In September, Rep. Tom Latham
(R-4-IA), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee’s
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and
Related Agencies, included a similar provision to preserve the BARR
in a House version of the appropriations bill.
The decade-old, Congressionally enabled BARR program was
established to provide aircraft owners and operators an ability to
"opt-out" of having their aviation movements tracked by anyone,
anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. In March, the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) formalized its intent to
limit availability of the BARR program to only parties who could
prove a "valid security concern." In August, the agency moved on
its intention. NBAA and other general aviation groups, joined by
individuals and organizations in and outside the aviation industry,
have expressed alarm over the move, which represents an unwarranted
invasion of the privacy of aircraft owners and operators, a threat
to the competitiveness of U.S. companies and a potential security
risk to persons on board.
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