I just saw another article about a new “attempt at passing a climate change bill in the Senate.” With the underpinnings of climate change in doubt, resignations of UN environmental bigwigs, flat temperatures over the past 15 years and the discovery that glaciers covering the Hymalayas are not likely to disappear in a decade, I think that this is a bill that can wait.
Climate change legislation is something that it seems no one can agree on. Even those for and against the issue don’t agree within their camps. But, I can name one issue in Washington where everyone involved agrees — the need to modernize our air traffic control system. Let’s get it done.
I have written about this so often, I am feeling like a broken record. Then I think about pilots who have to take circuitous routes, passengers losing time because of old systems, runway airplane traffic jams, tarmac delays, missed connections, tired air traffic controllers and wasted fuel. OK, I’ll say it again.
Congress needs to get the FAA Reauthorization Act passed as soon as possible. Get rid of all of the extraneous stuff in the bill, focus on air traffic control and get something passed.
The air traffic system is our highway in the sky and right now it is akin to driving on cobblestones rather than humming down a modern Interstate highway. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Pilots support it. Avionics companies support it. Passengers support it. Air traffic controllers support it. Airports support it. Airlines support it. Labor unions support it. Executives support it. Every Senator and Congressman or Congresswoman says they support it. The President supports it. DOT supports it. FAA supports it.
What the heck is going on? Let’s pass the bill that will allow us to work full steam on the air traffic control system and build a 21st Century system. It’s time.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
