Shuster Commends Eno Center’s Call for Air Traffic Control Reform

New Report Finds Need for Reform More Relevant Than Ever Washington, DC – A new report released today by the independent, non-partisan Eno Center for Transportation renews the call for fundamental reform of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the United States’ air traffic control (ATC) system. Eno’s report is entitled “Time for Reform: Delivering Modern Air Traffic Control” and can be read in full here.  “Air traffic control is a high-tech service for managing the flight of an aircraft from one airport to another.  It’s a technology service, and as the Eno Center has highlighted, it doesn’t need to be a government function,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA).  “Today’s report echoes the findings of other studies that FAA reform will bring greater efficiency and stability to the aviation system, lower costs, and keep flying safe, while simultaneously letting the FAA focus on its most important missions – safety and certification of aircraft and aircraft equipment,” Shuster continued.  “I commend the Eno Center for continuing to shed light on the need for fundamental FAA reform and highlighting the unsustainability of our current flawed aviation system.” The Eno report concludes that separating air traffic control from the FAA, as proposed by legislation passed out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last Congress (the AIRR Act), is long overdue and that the United States needs to adopt this forward-looking reform in order to prepare for air traffic growth. Similar to the AIRR Act from last Congress, the Eno report’s recommendations are based on key principles, including ensuring diversity in the national airspace system, providing a more predictable funding structure, strengthening FAA’s safety mission and certification processes, and providing for a smooth transition to a new system. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has begun the process of holding hearings and gathering input for an FAA reform and reauthorization bill for this Congress.