Donald Trump derided America’s air traffic control systems on Monday as “antiquated”, “horrible” and in urgent need of modernisation. He offered few other details, however, about his promised $1tn infrastructure programme.
With fanfare at the White House, where he was introduced as “a builder”, the president backed a plan to spin-off air traffic operations into a private, not-for-profit corporation and promised “a great new era in American aviation”.
Democrats poured scorn on the start of what has been billed as “infrastructure week”, arguing that Trump’s plans will mean less construction and fewer jobs, particularly in rural areas, while financiers profit from tolls.
The president railed against previous efforts by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to upgrade air traffic control.
“But after billions and billions of tax dollars spent and the many years of delays, we are still stuck with an ancient, broken, antiquated, horrible system that doesn’t work,” he said, adding a couple of adjectives to those on his autocue. Then he quipped: “Other than that, it’s quite good.”
Trump then took a swipe at Barack Obama, again with some ad libs. “The previous administration spent over $7bn trying to upgrade the system, and totally failed. Honestly, they didn’t know what the hell they were doing. A total waste of money – $7b-plus-plus.”
Some analysts find aviation a curious choice for the kick-off of Trump’s infrastructure push. There has not been a fatal crash of a domestic airliner in the US for eight years. But it may represent low-hanging fruit, since a bill authored by House transportation and infrastructure committee chairman Bill Shuster has already laid the groundwork.
Trump told an audience in the east room that included his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, that the US air traffic control system was designed when roughly 100,000 people flew each year. The US is now approaching nearly 1bn passengers annually. The current system cannot keep up, he said, causing flight delays and inefficiencies that cost the economy as much as $25bn a year.
“At a time when every passenger has GPS technology in their pockets,” he said, “our air traffic control system still runs on radar and ground-based radio systems that they don’t even make anymore, they can’t even fix anymore, and many controllers must use slips of paper to track our thousands and thousands of planes that are up in the air.”
Under the new plan, the FAA would focus on safety while a separate not-for-profit entity would ensure route efficiency, timely service and a reduction in delays.
“At its core, our new plan will dramatically improve America’s air traffic control system by turning it over to a self-financing, nonprofit organisation,” the president said. “This new entity will not need taxpayer money, which is very shocking when people hear that. They don’t hear that too often.”
Trump was surrounded by members of Congress as, amid some jovial banter, he signed a decision memo and letter outlining his principles for the air traffic control plan. He claimed to have the backing of air traffic controllers, passenger advocates, pilot unions and leaders of airlines and cargo companies.
White House officials said the new entity would be overseen by a 13-member board that will include representatives from the airline industry, unions, general aviation, airports and other sectors. Opponents fear airline interests will dominate the board, overseeing an estimated 300 air traffic facilities and around 30,000 employees.
Trump plans a series of events this coming week to highlight his $1tn effort to modernise roads, bridges, airports and railways. He will travel to Ohio to discuss inland waterways and meet with mayors, governors and transportation officials. Some analysts believe he is eager to deflect attention from ongoing problems, notably former FBI director James Comey’s testimony on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Officials said they hoped to have principles for an overall infrastructure plan drawn up by the end of the year. But Democrats argue that Trump’s proposed budget is in fact a net cut to infrastructure spending.
Chuck Schumer, minority leader in the Senate, said: “The entire focus of the president’s infrastructure ‘proposal’ is on privatisation, which sounds like a nice word but when you scratch beneath the surface it means much less construction and far fewer jobs, particularly in rural areas.
“It means Trump tolls from one end of America to the other and huge profits for financiers who when they put up the money want to be repaid by the average driver, worker and citizen. It also means that places where they can’t build a toll, like repairing our crumbling schools, will likely get left behind.”
