Business aviation groups are stepping up their opposition to a proposal to create a user-funded independent organization to run the U.S. air traffic control system. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) intends to make such a proposal the centerpiece of his comprehensive FAA reauthorization bill that is expected to be released early next year. Airlines for America, which strongly endorses the concept, recently rolled out the chief executives of six U.S. airlines (on December 1) to argue their case for an independent ATC organization.

In response, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen told members that “the general aviation community has once again been served with a fresh reminder of the very real threat to the industry from a proposal from the airline lobby...the airlines are readying for the coming battle over ATC privatization funded by user fees, and we must do likewise.”

Separately, a group of New Hampshire aviation businesses and the New Mexico Airport Managers Association (NMAMA) have written to lawmakers opposing such a concept. The New Hampshire businesses wrote that “such [an independent ATC organization], controlled by a board of industry insiders, will place our businesses and our employees in constant peril from efforts by major users of the ATC system to shift cost and deny general aviation access to airspace and critical airport development funds.” NMAMA, meanwhile, said, “We are convinced that this will lead to a system of user fees that will be detrimental to aviation interests.”