Nov. 12, 2025
A longtime advocate for free-market policies is making an effective case with a leading business news organization that the answer to America’s air traffic control (ATC) challenges lies in continued investment in modernization – not privatization – of the nation’s aviation system.
In a Nov. 11 letter to The Wall Street Journal Andrew Langer, president of the Institute for Liberty, challenges the claims made by the news organization in calling for ATC privatization, as some other voices have done during the federal government shutdown. The closure has prompted restrictions on aviation traffic, including for business aviation, as a result of air traffic controller shortages cited by the FAA, and related safety concerns.
“It’s unacceptable for air-traffic controllers to be going without pay during a government shutdown,” Langer writes. “But there are better solutions than to privatize our ATC system. … Privatization would distract from real solutions that, for the first time in decades, are within reach.”
Commenting on Canada’s ATC system that some privatization proponents point to as a model for the U.S., Langer notes, “The Canadian Air Traffic Control Association has reported that Nav Canada, the nonprofit that runs the country’s air navigation, underinvests in personnel and infrastructure to contain costs. The result is that across Canada, and especially in Vancouver, airports face chronic controller shortages and outages, leading to cascading delays. Control towers at two major airports are regularly closed when the only controller on duty takes a break.”
“Our priority ought to be solving shutdown-related pay issues,” Langer concludes. “Upending the whole system to fix a problem for which there is a more-targeted solution isn’t the way to do it.”
NBAA and other voices in and outside the aviation sector have long pointed out the many flaws in privatized systems, including those related to safety.
Over the past two decades, the Canadian government’s safety oversight of Nav Canada has fallen dramatically. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has given Canada received an audit score of 65.1%, a significant decline from the last audit performed in 2005, when Canada was among the top 10 performing countries. According to the report, the government’s oversight of Nav Canada ranked below other G7 countries, and also below a majority of the 38 states in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Bolen cited the ICAO study and other concerns about privatized ATC systems in Canada and elsewhere in a recent episode of Freakonomics Radio – a podcast reaching millions of listeners – and noted that the U.S. must “build a brand-new air traffic control system” with investments in ATC staffing and training, facilities, technologies and other equipment. Read more about Bolen’s comments on the Freakonomics podcast.
Earlier this year, NBAA and nearly 60 other aviation groups formed the Modern Skies Coalition, which is calling for significant investment in a brand-new ATC system. “Airlines, labor, business aviation – all of general aviation – we’ve all united in the,” Bolen said.
With leadership from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, Congress heeded the coalition’s calls and provided $12.5 billion for ATC modernization in the “one big” budget bill approved by Congress in July.
Together, the industry’s message is clear: the U.S. must strengthen and modernize its air traffic system, without a distracting debate over ATC privatization.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.