Plan Outlined to Shift Air Traffic to Corporation

The Clinton Administration officially presented its proposal Tuesday to improve the long-troubled federal air traffic control system by turning it over to a new government corporation.

The Administration argues that shifting the system from the Federal Aviation Administration to a corporation would speed modernization of a network that uses decades-old equipment to oversee the takeoffs, landings and flight patterns of 22,000 commercial aircraft each day.

“I want to serve notice that we mean business on this,” Vice President Al Gore said after viewing the 1960s-era refrigerator-sized computers in the control tower at Washington National Airport. “We shouldn’t wait until the system collapses.”

Gore and other officials said that creating a government corporation would free the air traffic system from Byzantine procurement regulations, cumbersome personnel procedures and restrictions on long-term financing that hamper the FAA.

Skeptics, however, pointed to other quasi-government agencies--including the U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak--as proof that merely appointing a chief executive officer and a board of directors will not be a magic bullet. They argued that the current system is the world’s safest and worry that removing congressional oversight could endanger that record.

“I’m afraid the Administration has developed a solution in search of a problem,” said Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation aviation subcommittee. Oberstar said that he fears “the White House is moving full speed toward a major reorganization of a federal agency that has served its primary mission--aviation safety--extremely well.”

Others expressed similar misgivings.

“Super technology cannot fix everything,” said Sen. Wendell H. Ford (D-Ky.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation aviation subcommittee. “And a good example is the state-of-the-art (Denver) airport, which has delayed openings because a computer baggage system doesn’t function. It’s one thing to lose bags under a new computerized system but a far different thing to risk the flying public’s safety with the uncertainty of a new and untested corporation,” Ford said.

Oberstar voiced many questions about the proposal. “How can we be sure that the FAA’s outstanding safety record will continue under the new corporation? How will it be funded and how much influence will the airlines exercise in its operation?”

Transportation Secretary Federico Pena said he believes that he has answers for all Oberstar’s questions and hopes to smooth over any misgivings that members of Congress may have before he proposes legislation later this spring.

Administration officials stressed that concern for the safety of air travelers is not the prime motivation for creating the government corporation, considering that the nation’s air traffic control system is indisputably the world’s safest.

The reasons most frequently cited for the overhaul include saving the airlines some of the estimated $2 billion they lose each year from delays caused by the current system, cutting the high costs of running outdated machinery and preventing potential safety hazards as airways become more crowded.

An example of how difficult it is for the FAA to equip control towers with the latest technology is the multibillion-dollar computer system known as the Advanced Automation System. Because of countless snafus and government requirements, the project already has cost overruns of $2 billion and installation has been delayed at least two years.

The proposal to turn the air traffic system over to a government corporation is part of the Administration’s “reinventing government” campaign, the purpose of which is to cut red tape and improve efficiency of federal agencies. As with much of that campaign, revisions of the air traffic system would not be felt until long after President Clinton’s current term in office.

Over the last decade, two dozen attempts to reform the FAA have failed, proving that propelling the nation’s air traffic control services into the 21st Century “cannot be done by simple internal reform of the FAA,” Pena said.

The Administration’s plan establishes the nonprofit Air Traffic Services Corp., which would be funded by the fees that travelers pay to the airlines. Some 38,000 of the FAA’s 52,000 employees would be transferred to the corporation.

The corporation would operate under an 11-person board, including the secretaries of transportation and defense, and would have representatives from airlines, non-commercial aircraft users and labor.

Pena stressed that the corporation would run like a business, able to buy equipment off the shelf instead of submitting to the layers of acquisition procedures set up by Congress. Staffing problems would be relieved because incentives could be offered to employees who agree to move to hard-to-fill positions.

The proposal is not a new one. Various studies over the last 10 years have suggested such steps for improving air traffic control. Such an approach already has been tried by other countries, including Britain and New Zealand.

The FAA would continue to exercise safety oversight of the corporation. The federal government also would have the power to take over the system if the corporation were to fail in its mission, Pena stressed.

Airlines and the air traffic controllers’ union have expressed support. But the National Transportation Assn., which represents small and medium-sized aviation businesses and private pilots, has voiced opposition, saying that the Administration’s goals could not be accomplished without increasing costs that would be passed on to consumers.

At the press conference, Gore and Pena cited the use of vacuum tubes from the 1950s-era radar system in use at Los Angeles International Airport as an example of antiquated technology. Holding up such a tube, Gore said that its continued use--it is “only made in former Communist countries that are way behind the curve”--speaks to “the strength of the resistance to change in this particular area.”

But he stressed that the Administration is not about to abandon its commitment to overhaul the system.

“I predict for you that (the proposal) is going to pass in spite of the opposition,” Gore said.