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Several major airline CEOs, including American's Doug Parker and JetBlue's Robin Hayes, have been in D.C. this month to offer support for air traffic control reform. And someday, it might even happen.
In this March 16, 2017 photo, air traffic controllers work in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. President Donald Trump has embraced airlines' decades-long goal of removing air traffic control operations from the government and putting industry in charge, making it a key part of his agenda to boost the nation's infrastructure through privatization.
With the September 30 deadline looming, leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives and the White House are stepping up their efforts to build support for the AIRR Act, which would remove Air Traffic Control from the auspices of the FAA and place it in the hands of a private, non-profit corporation. The arguments on both sides are pretty well known by now, and it would appear that any FAA reauthorization bill that contains the ATC spinoff is "dead on arrival" in the U.S. Senate.
Story updated on 14 September to add comments from the National Business Travel Association, which opposes ATC privatisation. See the last two paragraphs.
Even as party volunteers and political higher-ups spend their efforts on a slate of local elections this November, many are keeping an eye on another process already unfolding behind the scenes: next year's congressional and state races. Primary season is still months away, and next year's elections - including key races in both Washington and Harrisburg - are nearly 15 months out.
Should the federal government privatize the nation's air traffic control system? The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are weighing the question in bills that would reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for the next several years. They're also debating consumer issues, like whether to ban air passengers from making in-flight phone calls, how airlines should handle passengers bumped from flights, and whether to let airlines make fares look cheaper by excluding government-imposed fees from advertised prices.
More than 3.4 million Americans are expected to take to the skies this July 4 holiday, and turbulence is a given. With such a surge in traffic, congestion and delays that leave passengers holed up in crowded, outdated airports are inevitable.
What we actually got was an endorsement of legislation that was passed this week by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is led by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa. The legislation's ultimate fate is uncertain, but much is at stake.
While Republicans in Congress craft a bill to move the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control services into a private nonprofit organization, Democrats on the House Transportation Committee have already introduced their own measure to reform the agency. The Aviation Funding Stability Act has goals similar to those laid out in a statement of principles signed by President Trump last week : upgrade air traffic control technology faster and stabilize the FAA's funding.
In the first salvo in a week-long push to overhaul America's infrastructure, President Donald Trump on Monday announced a plan to privatize the nation's air traffic control system. In what he called an "air travel revolution," Trump promised the "really monumental reform" would deliver "cheaper, faster, and safer travel" as well as an economic boost that could be worth $25 billion to the economy.
His tweets have the power to shape international relations, send stock prices up - or down - and galvanize the American public. We're watching how Donald Trump is using this platform of unfettered communication now that he's commander in chief.
"Something is clearly broken when passengers have been treated the way they have on recent flights", Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, told a panel of chastened airline executives at today's hearing. United Airlines Inc UAL .N executives faced harsh criticism from USA lawmakers that demanded answers on Tuesday following the forcible removal of a passenger from an overbooked flight in April, with the carrier's chief executive again apologizing for the incident.
Congressmen were described as "angry" today when they grilled executives from several different airlines during hearings in the House. Prominently featured was Oscar Munoz, the United CEO best known for recent dragging and beatdown services which are never mentioned in the rewards program brochures.
United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz and UAL President Scott Kirby prepare to testify at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on 'Oversight of U.S. Airline Customer Service,' in the aftermath of the forced removal on April 9 of a passenger from a UAL Chicago flight, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 2, 2017. United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz prepares to testify at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on 'Oversight of U.S. Airline Customer Service,' in the aftermath of the forced removal on April 9 of a passenger from a UAL Chicago flight, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 2, 2017.
In a bipartisan fashion, too. The House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees aviation policy, will hold a hearing to probe just what happened on United Flight 3411.
Gun silencers: Safety device or marketing ploy? Ed Hughes attributes a good chunk of his hearing loss to his hobbies: hunting and competitive shooting. Check out this story on ydr.com: http://on-ydr.co/2lyKdbS The Freedom Armory Machine Works' Grenadier suppressor adds 8.5 inches on a .45 pistol.
The Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, was forced through Congress in 2010 without a single Republican vote. It was sold to the American people with multiple false promises, like President Barack Obama's infamous, "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.
Rep. Bill Shuster, R-9th District, has signed on to a bill that would direct Veterans Affairs to fill open leadership roles, shortly after the Van Zandt VA Medical Center got its fifth interim head in less than a year. "It's ridiculous that we have more than 20 VA medical centers without a permanent director across the country, including James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona," "It makes it difficult for these facilities to succeed when there is no permanent leadership, and I strongly support legislative efforts to require the VA to address this problem."
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Robyn Isgan of Bedford samples KingView Mead during the Taste of the Alleghenies Kegs 'N' Corks at the Jaffa Shrine Center on Friday evening. craft beer and wine festival at the Jaffa Shrine was sold out, with 250 ticket buyers sampling products from Pennsylvania breweries, wineries and distilleries.
Ed Rendell remembers his quest to become two-term governor of Pennsylvania as something of a tale of two cities. For decades, people running for statewide office in Pennsylvania had two sets of speeches.