AOPA responded quickly and forcefully when, on the Friday before Memorial Day, the Chicago Tribune ran an editorial advocating that the nation’s air traffic control system be privatized and funded with user fees.
Reading like something the airlines themselves might have written, the editorial argued, among other things, that privatization is the cure for the delay problems.
Rubbish, responded AOPA. In a letter to the editor published on May 29, AOPA President Phil Boyer wrote, “The Chicago Tribune’s proposed cure for what ails the nation’s air transportation system will instead probably kill one of the patients.”
Boyer went on to explain the major role general aviation plays and what has happened to GA in countries where air traffic control has been privatized. Just as importantly, he noted how imperative general aviation is to the Chicago economy.
“Crippling an entire segment of the aviation industry in the name of shorter airline delays is just plain shortsighted,” said Boyer. “And we made sure the editors of the Chicago Tribune knew that.”
AOPA Communications staff
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