Originally Posted by
WillowRun 6-3
Privatizing the ATC function has been controversial, despite success of this move in other countries. Probably a big reason it hasn't happened in the U.S. is the need for Congressional appropriators to deliver, or at least to be seen as delivering, to their backers and donors. Call me cynical....
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A fully functioning ATC system is critical infrastructure for any developed nation. Don't believe all the privatization cool-aid, losing control of ATC is never going to end well.
A perfect example of this is NavCanada the privatized ANS provider in Canada. When COVID hit the fee for service model stopped getting paid for services that were no longer needed because no one was flying. As a result all the trainees in the system were laid off as well as a substantial number of qualified IFR and VFR controllers. Now that traffic has come back the system is melting down due to lack of staff. My home airport is an international airport with 8 airlines serving it, plus lots of GA movements and is usually ranked around 7 or 8th busiest in Canada. It now sometimes will have only one controller working clearance, ground, inner tower and outer tower during the day. They used to have all positions manned by individual controllers.
The UK NATS is another example of what happens when governments get out of running national infrastructure. Yes a government run ANS won't be as "efficient" as a privately operated ANS system but it will have the entire resources of the government behind it and ultimately be responsive to the people not a faceless board of directors.
Sorry for the thread drift, although I would argue that the de facto privatization of aircraft certification was the root cause of the MAX fiasco.