Watchdog report on air-traffic control revives privatization debate

Federal Aviation Administration plans to respond to outages from fires or floods at air-traffic control facilities are improving but still need work, an inspector-general report released Friday found.

The report rekindled the congressional debate over shifting controllers from the FAA to a private corporation governed by the industry. Congress will debate the possible change as part of renewing FAA legislation that expires Sept. 30.

Controller outages gained the spotlight after arson knocked out a Chicago-area regional facility in September 2014, disrupting flights for weeks. Flooding of a radar room in the tower at the Austin-Bergstrom airport in October 2015 also highlighted the need for contingency plans when controllers need to evacuate a facility.

Planes didn’t collide during the emergencies. Pilots can still talk to each other and with officials on the ground to coordinate flights. But the problems caused flight delays and cancellations as controllers from other regions directed traffic for the skies affected by the outages.

FAA’s goal is to be able to direct 90% of the typical flights at the 30 largest airports within 24 hours of an outage. But the agency's facilities aren’t yet ready to respond, in part because of a lack of controller training refresher courses for dealing with emergencies.

For example, when an incorrect flight plan for a military aircraft caused a failure of regional flight-control equipment in Los Angeles in April 2014, the center failed to follow emergency plans to notify FAA’s command center and national operations center, according to the inspector general’s report.

“FAA has taken steps to improve the effectiveness of its operational contingency plans; however, significant work remains to mitigate the impact of air traffic control disruptions,” Matthew Hampton, assistant inspector general for aviation, wrote in 23-page report.

FAA concurred with eight recommendations in the report and said it plans to complete them this year. The proposals included annual contingency training for controllers, confirming that emergency plans will work and ensuring that equipment such as phones and flashlights are available in facilities when power is cut.

The agency's multi-year plan nicknamed NextGen aims to upgrade its equipment and training. But advocates of privatizing FAA say the upgrades would happen faster and more efficiently as a corporation rather than within the government.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved legislation last year to privatize air-traffic control. But the Senate didn’t debate the bill. The chief sponsor, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., argued the FAA has been stymied in upgrading its equipment and training because of unpredictable funding from Congress.

A private board appointed by the government, airlines, unions and other stakeholders could assure steadier funding, according to Shuster.

“This report adds to the sea of evidence supporting the need for real reform in modernizing and managing air traffic services, and letting the FAA focus on its safety mission,” Shuster said.

His proposal has significant support from Airlines for America, which represents most of the largest carriers, and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. But factions of the industry and some lawmakers remain opposed.

The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, remained skeptical Friday about privatizing the busiest and most complex airspace in the world.

He and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., noted in a statement that FAA suffered no technological outages last year, while airlines had at least 15 large-scale disruptions that resulted in thousands of canceled flights affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

“For that and many other reasons, we remain unconvinced that privatizing the air traffic control system would lead to improvement,” DeFazio and Larsen.

The top Democrat on the comparable Senate panel, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, remained opposed to privatization during a confirmation hearing Wednesday for Elaine Chao, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the Transportation Department. Chao didn't take a position on the issue.

“This scheme would upset the partnership between the FAA and a lot of the agencies of government,” Nelson said.