OAKLAND—In the Public Interest Executive Director Donald Cohen has issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s plan to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system:

“Trump’s plan to privatize air traffic control would be a corporate giveaway to the big commercial airlines. Do we really want to give more control over air travel to the likes of United and Southwest?”

“Guess who’s the biggest cause of flight delays? The airline industry. The big commercial airlines pocket their profits to give to CEOs and shareholders instead of modernizing their outdated reservation systems.”

“Like all public goods—water, roads, national parks—our nation’s skies should be under our control, not in the hands of a few corporations. The current publicly operated system—the safest in the world—needs more public investment, not private control.”

In April 2017, In the Public Interest released an issue brief listing ten reasons that ATC privatization is a bad deal for consumers and communities.

Contact: Jeremy Mohler, Communications, jmohler@inthepublicinterest.org, 301-752-8413

In the Public Interest is a nonprofit research and policy center advocating for the democratic control of public goods and services.