Reason Foundation

Recent Research and Commentary

Air Traffic System Is Outdated and Politicized

November 20, 2009, 3:34pm

Robert Poole

If air traffic control were being operated as a business, responsible to its paying customers, it’s inconceivable that there would not be 100 percent backup for the vital flight plan filing centers that caused these delays. At the very least, if one center goes down, the other should have the capacity to handle the full workload. More broadly, these problems reflect a system whose funding and governance does not make sense for a high-tech, 24/7 service business like the country’s aviation system.

Our Air Traffic Control System Is Outdated and Wasteful

November 18, 2009, 11:12am

Your Flight Has Been Delayed -
And It's Washington's Fault

Reason.tv and Robert Poole examine the nation's air traffic control problems

November 18, 2009

As the holiday travel rush approaches, air travelers grounded by delays should take a moment to think about why they're stuck in airports or on the tarmac. There's a good chance Washington is to blame.

"The air traffic control system in the United States is technologically obsolete," says Robert W. Poole, Jr., director of transportation studies at Reason Foundation. "This model is basically the same model that we have used since the beginning of air travel."

The technology the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses to navigate $200 million jets is less advanced than the GPS technology drivers use to navigate $20,000 cars.

Poole says the system could safely handle more planes if the FAA used modern technology that would provide real-time information about where planes are. But the funding process, overseen by pork-hungry members of Congress, often thwarts technology upgrades. 

The only way to get the politics out of our air traffic system is to take the system away from the politicians. Why not let a private corporation manage the skies?

That may sound like a far-out, free-market idea, but Canada doesn't think so.

Our neighbors to the north often take pride in their lavish government programs, yet they allow a private corporation called Nav Canada to manage their air-traffic control system. Canada's approach, often called commercialization, has some surprising supporters in the U.S., including Al Gore, who pushed for commercialization when he was vice president.

Bob Poole (Quoted by Steve Forbes) Has It Right: Airline Deregulation is not to Blame

November 11, 2009, 11:00am

Shirley Ybarra

Steve Forbes quotes Bob Poole Jr. about aviation

Air Traffic Control Reform Newsletter #67

Radar, the FAA and airlines, user fees

October 23, 2009

Robert Poole

Air Traffic Control Reform Newsletter #66

Air traffic controller fatigue, business jets and NextGen

September 18, 2009

Robert Poole

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