Reported by Oriana Pawlyk for Politico Pro.
Dozens of aviation industry groups — including the trade group for airlines and the union that represents air traffic controllers — on Wednesday called on lawmakers not to privatize air traffic control, amid burgeoning interest from the Trump administration in “improving” the aviation system.
The letter to top lawmakers, signed by 30 groups including Airlines for America, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and multiple pilot unions, “are aligned on not pursuing privatization of U.S. air traffic control services and believe it would be a distraction from these needed investments and reforms.”
Instead, the signatories urge “robust emergency funding” for the FAA to address longstanding systemic challenges including air traffic controller staffing, the aging equipment they use, and the harm posed by shutdown politics.
“To maintain a best-in-class ATC system that is globally competitive, it is our unified objective to work with the U.S. Congress and the Administration to find common ground to ensure the operational safety and efficiency of the National Airspace System,” the groups said.
The groups’ wishlist additionally included funneling more money and “multi-year budgeting” toward the FAA’s Airport & Airway Trust Fund; and exempting the FAA from government shutdowns. (The Biden administration’s Transportation Department made a similar request to create a “mandatory,” multi-year budget program that didn’t rely on annual appropriations and help withstand the effects of shutdowns).
Background: Over the years, whether to remove air traffic control from the FAA and place it in another entity — whether private or not — has provoked pitched battles among factions of the industry. The last proposal, championed by former Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) ultimately imploded in 2018, during the first Trump administration.
Trump has yet to float the idea again, but various statements from people in his administration appear to flirt with the idea, and in general DOT Secretary Sean Duffy has been adamant that the decades-old systems in use for air traffic control must be improved.
The letter was accompanied by a white paper spelling out persistent shortfalls.
For example, at the end of fiscal year 2024, the FAA netted only 34 Certified Professional Controllers, or CPCs, a top-level controller capable of performing all functions of a controller at their facility. As of January 22, 2025, the FAA has 10,791 in the CPC workforce — which is 2,371 controllers below the present FAA target and more than 3,500 controllers below a target set between a collaborative group that includes the agency and NATCA.
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