ATCA Signs Onto Aviation Coalition Modernization for President-elect Donald Trump
ATCA along with 32 aviation organizations signed a letter to President-elect Donald Trump.
Excerpt from the letter:
As representatives from our nation’s aviation sector, we extend our congratulations to you on your historic election and look forward to the Administration’s focus and leadership on building greater economic prosperity for all Americans.
The undersigned organizations, representing our nation’s aviation and aerospace sector, are writing to express our continued support for ensuring America has a safe, resilient, and modernized air traffic control (ATC) system. The aviation industry – from commercial aviation to general aviation, manufacturing, labor, airports, advanced air mobility and other emerging technologies – accounts for more than 5% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), generating over 10 million high-quality jobs. Our nation’s ATC system is a vital infrastructure asset, essential to safe air travel and to our nation’s economic growth and competitiveness.
To maintain a best-in-class National Airspace System (NAS) that is globally competitive, our objective is to work with your Administration to find common ground so that together we can address needed efficiencies within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including process reforms to procure and deploy air traffic control equipment, modernize and realign facilities to improve operational efficiencies, address key staffing shortages, and ensure stable and predictable funding, including multi-year budgeting, to strategically manage and deploy the FAA’s ATC assets.
We encourage the Trump administration to work with industry, exclusive representatives of the FAA’s workforce, and Congress to support these needed improvements and efforts, and to help ensure the FAA can more effectively utilize the fees and taxes the users of the system contribute directly to the Airport & Airway Trust Fund (AATF) to upgrade and modernize FAA’s facilities and air traffic control equipment.
Addressing these areas will cut costs, reduce inefficiencies, and strengthen American competitiveness and will also ensure the FAA continues to uphold the highest standards of safety for all who use our nation’s airspace. The FAA’s primary mission has been, and should continue to be, ensuring the operational safety and efficiency of the NAS. Everything the FAA does should be directly tied to, and in support of, that mission.
Our organizations believe the areas we have outlined will ensure the FAA is more capable and prepared to deliver economic growth, foster American innovation, adapt to challenges, and continue to manage the safest, largest, and most complex air traffic control system in the world. We stand ready to work with you and your administration.