At least, not until they see specifics.
“It's all going to come down to the details,” said Bill Deere, senior vice president with the National Air Transportation Association, which represents charter providers and base operators. “We run the world's most complex, safest air traffic control system. If we're going to change its structure, we just want to make sure that we proceed very carefully.”
Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, who chairs the House Infrastructure and Transportation Committee, announced Monday his plan to establish a federally chartered not-for-profit entity to run air traffic control. He would remove it from the Federal Aviation Administration's jurisdiction and the “political meddling and bureaucratic red tape” that permeate the system.
Ed Kilkeary, president and CEO of Latrobe-based L.J. Aviation charter service, said Shuster's proposal is long overdue. Congressional dysfunction limits the FAA's ability to keep up with the industry, he said.
“The technology has been advancing so quickly,” Kilkeary said. “I think it's unfortunate the government hasn't done it. It's been very difficult.”
His business operates more than 30 planes, travels worldwide and runs year-round. European countries have systems that outpace that of the United States, which relies on radar technology from the 1950s and '60s, Kilkeary said.
Former Michigan Gov. John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, praised the idea of splitting the FAA's regulatory function from its day-to-day operations.
“I think it's going to allow us to be much more cost-effective and technologically advanced,” he said.
Still, concern ripples from lobbies representing general aviation and agricultural communities.
Most of the nation's 5,000 airports are not the hubs or destinations served by the giant corporate carriers, said a letter sent to all 535 members of Congress last week by the Alliance for Aviation Across America and other organizations.
“We believe it is critical that congressional oversight be retained over our air transportation system, so that we ensure that the interests and needs of these communities be protected and represented in the system,” said the letter.
Shuster began meeting with industry representatives 18 months ago. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, representing thousands of technicians and engineers, supports the concept, citing devastating effects of funding slowdowns.
“They've been someone who came to us early and said, ‘We gotta do something different,' ” Shuster told the Tribune-Review. “When they went through 23 (funding) extensions ... it became ugly for them.”
Shuster's office is finalizing the proposed makeup of the board. FAA authorization expires in September, and Shuster hopes his proposal is approved before then.
In a statement, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Shuster's proposal “speaks to some of the weaknesses of the status quo, and we will be reviewing it carefully.”
©2015 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.