CAA: GA News, "Court orders government to explain why it privatized some control towers"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Monday, February 11, 2002

Court orders government to explain why it privatized some control towers
The Associated Press


CINCINNATI (AP) - An air traffic controllers' union said Monday it is
satisfied with a court order telling the government to show progress in
explaining why it placed some control towers under private management.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says the Federal Aviation
Administration improperly authorized private operation of those control
towers nine years ago. The union wants the FAA to return the towers to
government operation at about 130 smaller airports nationwide.

The union originally filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Cleveland,
home to Burke Lakefront Airport, one of the airports with privately operated
control towers. Union officials say the privatization violates federal law
and long-standing national policy that air traffic control is a government
responsibility.

The privatization also could undermine safety because the private towers use
smaller control staffs than FAA-operated towers, union officials say.

In 2000, U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich in Cleveland ordered the FAA to
give her more explanation to justify why the privatization was done. Lawyers
for the controllers' union told the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on
Jan. 24 that the FAA has lagged in complying with Aldrich's order.

Appeals judges Nathaniel Jones, Martha Craig Daughtrey and R. Guy Cole Jr.
last week directed the FAA to file a status report within 30 days in
Aldrich's court. The appeals judges also told Aldrich to give the FAA a
deadline for filing with her the explanation she requested in 2000.

FAA spokesman William Shumann said Monday he had no response to the
appellate court's decision.

FAA officials have said that private operation of the control towers is safe
and legal.

Airline industry officials and congressional supporters of the 1993
privatization argued then that the FAA had bungled efforts to modernize the
nation's air traffic control system. They said putting control towers under
private control would make air travel more efficient and relieve backlogs.

Control towers are privately operated at about 130 smaller airports around
the country, including Yakima, Wash.; Riverside, Calif.; Pompano Beach,
Fla.; Charlottesville, Va.; Joplin, Mo.; Dothan, Ala.; and Niagara Falls,
N.Y.

Union officials say the privatization displaced 1,500 controllers
nationwide.

FAA officials have said the privatized towers were intended for smaller
airports where pilots fly under visual-flight rules. But many of the
airports with privatized towers handle substantial air traffic involving
instrument-flown aircraft that carry passengers, union officials said.

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