Southwest Airlines pilots support Trump's air traffic control privatization
Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association (SWAPA) President Captain Jon Weaks said Tuesday that President Trump’s initiative to privatize the air traffic control system will reduce delays and lower costs for passengers.
“You are going to reduce the amount of time they [flyers] spend in the air. You are going to reduce the block times on the aircraft themselves which will reduce in lower cost for the airlines and more efficiencies and time benefits for the passengers traveling,” Weaks told FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti.
The nation’s crumbling infrastructure was at the top of the president’s agenda yesterday as Trump outlined a proposal to privatize the U.S. air traffic control system.
"We live in a modern age yet our air traffic control system is stuck, painfully, in the past," Trump said from the East Room of the White House. "But after billions and billions of tax dollars spent and the many years of delays, we're still stuck with an ancient, broken, antiquated, horrible system that doesn't work."
The union president outlined some of the incentives that can be applied to help in the privatization.
“One of things the president suggested was the regulatory body would remain in effect, but the operating body would function as non-profit and they would operate and function budgetary on their own but still be regulated by the FAA,” he said. “Now the process for the generation of revenue In that would be spread out over several different entities, but one of the things we want to protect is safety because we fly the planes and … we want to make sure general aviation does not take a hit as well.”