DOT
56-02
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has for many years contracted with private companies to staff air traffic control towers at small airports. This program involves 206 contract towers handling approximately 23 percent of flights and has been highly successful. The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General has determined that contract towers are as safe as towers staffed by FAA employees and are much less costly to operate. Despite its success, the FAA’s contract tower program has been the subject of protracted litigation with the National Air Traffic Control Association for many years.
Late in his tenure, President Clinton issued an executive order authorizing the Secretary of Transportation to establish a new “Air Traffic Organization” within the Federal Aviation Administration. Secretary Mineta is now preparing to establish this organization within FAA. After lobbying by the air traffic control union, President Clinton had language inserted in his executive order suggesting that air traffic control is an “inherently governmental function.” That phrase was deleted in the recent amendment to the executive order. The goal of the deletion is to make clear that the executive order did not inadvertently preclude the continuation of the successful contract tower program.
Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta said today, “This kind of competitive sourcing is a goal for the Department of Transportation and is a priority of the President’s Management Agenda. It is clear that any large-scale privatization of air traffic control would be highly controversial in Congress, and I have no present intention of initiating that debate.”
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