Aviation Policy News: New control tower consolidation proposal is bold

In this issue:

• Bold new idea: control tower consolidation
• Why the “Brand New ATC System” will not work
• Reason’s annual report on aviation infrastructure
• Informing pilots of possible runway incursions
• Could airport screening be privatized?
• News Notes
• Quotable Quotes

A Bold New Idea: Control Tower Consolidation

Consolidating U.S. air traffic control facilities has a fairly long history of being proposed, but with very little to show for it, except for a few consolidated terminal radar approach control facilities (TRACONs). Yet since today’s technology permits air traffic to be managed anywhere from anywhere, the concept continues to make sense.

I’m pleased to report that a bold new consolidation proposal is being worked on by leading companies that have pioneered remote/digital air traffic control towers. Going beyond the already-implemented remote tower centers in Europe, which are mostly focused on managing a dozen or more small-airports from one remote tower center, this idea suggests a much more expansive approach called a control tower complex.

A control tower complex (CTC) would focus on a geographical region and manage up to a dozen towers of various sizes and complexity. For example, a hypothetical consolidated tower complex might include managing five small airports, four medium airports, and one larger airport, all managed from a single CTC. As with all existing remote tower centers, there would be real productivity gains (due to economies of scale), some alleviation of current shortfalls in air traffic controller numbers, and significant cost savings due to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) not having to replace numerous obsolete physical air traffic control towers. Instead, it would only incur the costs of demolishing them and replacing them with cameras and other sensors at each airport site. For example, the recent cost of replacing the tower at Teterboro, NJ, a general aviation airport, was $74 million.

The FAA has succeeded over the years in consolidating a handful of TRACONs, but no other types of air traffic control (ATC) facilities. One major obstacle has been political: Members of Congress generally oppose losing any FAA facility in their state or district.

Another concern is likely opposition from air traffic controllers to proposed relocations. But this new concept calls for locating each CTC in the region where the to-be-replaced towers are and vetting potential CTC locations for cost of living and related quality of life factors that would be attractive for controller and manager relocation.

With a range of tower sizes in the CTC, there would be opportunities for controllers to train and qualify for moving to a higher-level remote tower, without having to relocate. Also appealing to controllers would be state-of-the-art technology, as well as a training lab with a control tower simulator at each CTC. As for congressional opposition, while the usual resistance can be expected, if the benefits and cost savings are in the ballpark CTC advocates suggest, the good-government case should be overwhelming.

One way to find out is to try this approach via a pilot program to implement one or two such control tower complexes. The FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) could offer this as a public-private partnership, open to companies with a track record of developing and operating remote tower centers overseas. Qualified companies would likely include Frequentis, Indra/Kongsburg, and Saab, which have each implemented remote tower centers in Europe.

The procurement process would reveal the likely cost of a new CTC, which could be compared with the cost of replacing each of the conventional towers based on recent replacements, such as Teterboro’s tower. The cost savings would be just one of the benefits. If the CTC idea lives up to its potential, adopting it as the way forward would accelerate the pace of replacing potentially several hundred smaller, aging brick & mortar towers. And it would likewise help to alleviate the ongoing controller shortage, not just initially but also by encouraging controllers at a CTC to make use of on-site simulator training to qualify for shifting to a more complex airport, without having to relocate.

This strikes me as an unprecedented innovation that would address a number of air traffic control problems.

I note that in the 2024 FAA reauthorization legislation, the FAA is directed to expand the scope of its remote tower efforts to include a remote tower center serving at least two airports. There is no sign of the FAA taking any action on this provision of the law.

» return to top

Why DOT’s “Brand New Air Traffic Control System” Will Not Work
By Rick Castaldo

This month, with fanfare and publicity, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced an ambitious goal to overhaul the U.S. air traffic control system infrastructure with a large congressional appropriation of tens of billions of dollars. Within three to three and a half years, he promised, this plan would produce “a brand new air traffic control system.”

This is a laudable goal, but it ignores two basic underlying realities. The first is the Federal Aviation Administration’s deteriorating infrastructure, which is truly on its last legs. This must be addressed with far more urgency than “buying new stuff.” Many believe Secretary Duffy is not being provided accurate data on the condition of the 70,000 pieces of equipment he discusses that make up the National Airspace System, NAS. To put it bluntly, he is being misled.

The second reality is that the FAA’s process for procuring new systems and technology is seriously flawed, as illustrated by lengthy delays and limited benefits from the 20-year NextGen modernization project, which is widely recognized as producing very little bang for the tens of billions of bucks spent.

Secretary Duffy’s call to action was apparently driven by the deadly mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the numerous outages at the Newark TRACON, causing major air traffic disruptions. In addition, last year’s nationwide NOTAM system outage caused havoc as well, with additional failures after an influx of capital and promised changes of that 50-year-old-system.

Secretary Duffy’s “brand new air traffic control” plan is to award an integration contract to a single commercial company, committing many billions of dollars in advance of any detailed plan—and all to be accomplished in less than four years. More disturbing is that an attitude of “Let them tell us how to do it” is a recipe for cost growth and failure. Whoever is advising Secretary Duffy on this path is 100% wrong. The integration contractor would need direction from someone highly knowledgeable. And whatever contractor is chosen, they would need more than a cursory understanding of the complexity of the existing National Airspace System, NAS, infrastructure, archaic electrical interfaces, and the vast number of existing contractors that provide key services, like telecommunications. They would also need the authority to execute anything needed in very short time frames, unheard of at the FAA.

One seasoned executive (recently retired) with years of FAA experience as well as at air navigation service providers (ANSPs) worldwide, tells me this approach is akin to a feeding frenzy of a school of sharks, all fighting for a piece of the $15 billion carcass. Another retired executive, instrumental in many successful FAA programs, writes, “If you want it bad, you get it bad.” He gives credit to the secretary for understanding that this effort cannot be undertaken within the seriously flawed FAA procurement system with traditional FAA contracting involvement. 

Another writes, “The approach proposed ignores the reality that the current infrastructure must be maintained. This is not an option.”

The entire US economy depends on the predictable movement of aircraft throughout the world, into and out of the country, and between major US hubs.

In 2000, a single ASR-9 radar system fell over at Boston Logan Airport. The FAA had no spares for the (at that point) eight-year-old ASR-9 antenna, so it took the training academy system from Oklahoma to replace the Logan system. The failure was traced to a poor structural design, and the FAA paid tens of millions of dollars to the contractor for a repair kit affecting more than a hundred of those radars. That family of radars is still in use 25 years later and is the basis of surveillance service and weather information at all our major airports. The FAA has been attempting to modernize this equipment for years and has failed. That radar outage in Boston, lasting only three days, caused air traffic control disruptions throughout the country for a week, and that was a single radar at a single hub.

My point is that the current infrastructure must absolutely be kept operating at almost any cost while, at the same time, new equipment is infused into a system that basically never shuts down. 

The integrator must be tasked specifically with the mission to maintain 24/7 operations. In my opinion, there is no single integrator in the world capable of this. It will take many of the same manufacturers and contractors utilized today, just to keep the NAS basically functional. One writer suggests that a program similar to the World War II Manhattan Project be chartered. Some believe it requires a single person, with the authority over every single element of a project of this scope, right down to guaranteeing zoning permits and electrical connections, with the ability to waive any regulation, specification, or rule, local or federal. That will never happen.

Many people inside the Beltway, as well as the FAA staff, continue to blame a lack of funding for the FAA. That is a minor part of the overall problem. Much of the billions spent on NextGen did not prove beneficial. The entrenched FAA staff running the failed procurement system deserves much of the blame.

One retired FAA senior contracting officer tells me that when FAA got its own acquisition system in April 1996, it didn’t change the fact that FAA has a risk-adverse, “cover your ass” culture that continued with lengthy legal reviews and processes that drive costs up, cause program delays, and do nothing for the quality of products procured.

A former FAA chief systems engineer writes that the discipline of systems engineering is a lost art at the FAA. Many of the current heads of these functions have near-zero qualifications in engineering, lack a core understanding of requirements development, and have an over-reliance on archaic military specifications for equipment. Over-specifying equipment has resulted in tremendous cost growth and delays in numerous procurements.

A recent attempt at replacing a 40-year-old surface radar with a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) system resulted in hundreds of additional requirements and environmental specifications that made a true COTS product a fictional pursuit. For example, the FAA demanded that a COTS radar continue to operate in 100-mile-per-hour winds at an airport with no reduction in performance. Who lands in 100-mile-per-hour winds? More importantly, the chief operating officer and senior staff should have been asking about this during the many reviews on the way to the issuance of a request for proposals.

Unfortunately, Secretary Duffy is being advised by many of the same FAA staff who have been instrumental in running the FAA and aviation trade associations for many years. These inside-the-Beltway professionals have near-zero domain expertise on the operation, maintenance, and logistical support for the technology used by the National Airspace System. Moreover, the vast array of companies and associations supporting this effort are currently involved in some of the failed programs, now behind schedule and over budget.

Given the above realities, what should be done instead?

Duffy’s plan calls for new, innovative investments. This should be suspended until the current NAS is stabilized. Spending billions on new elements is not today’s priority if the current NAS equipment cannot be kept working. But:

• Speeding up TDM-IP under a nationwide effort is essential.
• Also, modernizing the voice switches at hub airports immediately.
• Continuing to replace radios as they fail is prudent under existing contracts.

Duffy should direct the FAA Administrator and the ATO Chief Operating Officer to choose a single individual with responsibility for ensuring that the 31 major hub airports (which handle the majority of all passengers) receive priority for spare parts, available trained technicians, and requisite controller workforce for safe movement of air traffic at each of those airports.

The COO should install a second individual to ensure that nationwide systems such as the wide area augmentation system, the national airspace data interchange network (NADIN), NOTAMs, and flow control at the command center are given priority for spare parts and staff to maintain those operations.

The COO should cease all installations of new program equipment and redirect funding to maintain the NAS systems that are essential for the 31 major airports. This will cause complaints from the current vendors. Many of these programs are far over budget and behind schedule. They eat up precious resources and are not focused on maintaining air traffic flow or air safety. Terminal flight data manager (TFDM) is one such program, with hundreds of millions spent and near-zero current benefit, and far behind schedule.

A third individual should be assigned absolute authority over the procurement of spare parts, without regard to various “stovepipe” organizations. This should be the top priority for funding and dedicated staff. This individual should have direct access to the Logistics Center inventory of available spares and the ability to direct the manufacturing of spares essential to keeping existing systems running.

A fourth individual should be put in charge of repairing aging physical infrastructure, including all TRACONs, centers, and towers. Repair-only should be a priority for existing funds by an individual with a construction background (e.g., Army Corps or Navy Seabees).

Finally, all four key individuals should be given every latitude to execute their mission. The transportation secretary, FAA administrator, and COO should hold weekly reviews of every major task undertaken by this group.

Rick Castaldo recently retired from a long career in air traffic control technology. With a degree in electrical engineering from Oklahoma University, he served in multiple positions within the FAA, including the Logistics Center, the Tech Center, and FAA headquarters. After 10 years as an international ATC consultant, he returned to U.S. DOT as a subject matter expert on radar systems and ADS-B. He has been an advisor to this newsletter for a number of years.

» return to top

Reason’s Annual Report on Aviation Infrastructure P3s
By Marc Scribner

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will be long-felt, but 2024 marked the first year that global air traffic exceeded 2019 levels. Also proving resilient was the long-term global trend of private investment in airports—via outright purchase, long-term lease, or public-private partnerships (P3s) for select airport projects—and the continued modernization of air traffic control. These activities are documented in Reason Foundation’s recently released Annual Aviation Infrastructure Report 2025.

The airport section includes an updated table of 2023 revenue of the world’s 38 largest investor-owned airport companies, with the five largest being Aeroports de Paris, Aena Aeropuertos, Heathrow Airport Holdings, Fraport, and Vinci Airports. Combined revenue from these 38 airport companies totaled $52.1 billion, representing 35.7% of the 2023 world airport revenue of $146 billion. For pre-pandemic comparison, these investor-owned airport companies collected $48.3 billion in 2019, or 26.6% of the 2019 total global revenue of $181.7 billion.

The robust recovery of the private airport sector is especially interesting because the United States led the global air traffic recovery while possessing only one privately operated commercial service airport (San Juan, Puerto Rico). The relative financial resilience of private airports can be partially explained by the involvement of private infrastructure funds. Recent empirical research from New York University’s Stern School of Business found that airports with majority infrastructure fund ownership enjoy faster passenger growth and attract more new airline entrants, especially low-cost carriers. In addition, research by Airports Council International on the rise of the airport group model, in which private companies manage multiple airports, has found that airport groups improve airport financial resilience.

The rebound in airport privatization and P3 activity led Infrastructure Investor to run an article in July 2024 headlined, “Airports are once again a favourite.” It highlighted airport investors’ global portfolio rebalancing as passenger traffic began exceeding pre-pandemic levels, as well as interest in new markets. Analysis by Reason Foundation of transactions contained in Acuris’s Infralogic database found that the total deal value of projects reaching financial close in 2024 was nearly double the value of 2023 transactions, increasing from $17.7 billion to $32.9 billion.

Last year saw a number of major private airport developments worldwide. In April, Spanish airport company Aena agreed to invest $401 million to expand the capacity of Congonhas Airport, the second-largest airport in São Paulo, Brazil. The four-year project will replace the existing terminal with one more than twice its size, increasing the airport’s capacity from 17 million annual passengers to 29.5 million. The project will also upgrade the airport’s runways.

A new airport development, financing, and management company was founded in Canada. In July, Vancouver-based Centerline Airport Partners signed a contract to manage Parma Airport in Italy and is seeking to raise $100 million from investors. Centerline has partnered with Atlantico Capital to help it raise funds in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

In November, Germany’s AviAlliance agreed to acquire AGS (Aberdeen, Glasgow, Southampton) Airports from Ferrovial and Macquarie for $1.95 billion, or approximately 23 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). AviAlliance owns stakes in the airports of Athens, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The United States is an outlier in the worldwide trend of private airport investment and management. While P3s for major projects such as passenger terminals, cargo facilities, and consolidated rental car centers are growing in popularity, whole-airport P3 leases remain rare.

The notable exception has been the P3 lease of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Luís Muñoz Marín International Airport in 2013, which for years was the only airport to successfully enter the FAA’s Airport Privatization Pilot Program, now mainstreamed as the Airport Investment Partnership Program (AIPP). In Dec. 2023, the FAA issued its record of decision and finding of no significant impact for the planned airport expansion accompanying the P3 lease of Tweed New Haven Airport (CT). This became the first whole-airport P3 lease approved on the mainland United States. Interestingly, Tweed New Haven’s private partner Avports, which had previously been the airport’s long-time contract manager, structured the agreement so that the airport did not seek relief from existing FAA mandates that would have required AIPP approval.

In Nov. 2024, south-central Florida’s Avon Park Executive Airport was approved by the FAA to enter AIPP. The general aviation airport is under a 30-year P3 lease with Florida Airport Management (FAM), which had previously managed the airport under contract with the city of Avon Park. The terms of the long-term lease require FAM to complete 13 improvement projects in the airport master plan that were estimated to cost $14.3 million in 2015. If FAM performs well according to agreed-upon metrics, it will have the option to extend the concession by up to 19 additional years.

There is continued speculation about why the United States is such an outlier compared with most of the rest of the world on airport privatization and long-term P3s. The Congressional Research Service released a report on the subject in early 2021. After comparing the global trend with the very limited use of the recent and current federal program, CRS analysts suggested that unequal tax treatment of revenue bonds (tax-exempt municipal bonds for existing airports versus taxable revenue bonds for private partners) could be a causal factor.

Turning to air traffic control, Reason’s Annual Aviation Infrastructure Report finds that 98 countries are now served by air navigation service providers (ANSPs) operated as corporations funded by user fees. FAA, which operates as both a regulator and an ANSP, is increasingly an outlier. Just 24 countries—mostly developing ones—continue to cling to this legacy civil aviation authority model, which has been out of step with International Civil Aviation Organization best practices since 2001.

FAA’s outdated institutional model is the root cause of the agency’s delayed air traffic control modernization efforts. The agency has yet to adopt space-based ADS-B for surveillance of its oceanic airspace, something even much poorer countries such as Azerbaijan and Papua New Guinea have been able to do in the last few years. FAA has also yet to commission a single remote/digital tower, which are rapidly proliferating in Europe and Asia, as is discussed in more detail in a recent Reason Foundation report, Advancing Remote Tower Deployment in the United States.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a planned overhaul of the FAA’s aging air traffic control facilities and equipment in May. Alas, as was discussed in detail in a previous issue of this newsletter, Secretary Duffy’s focus is on increasing taxpayer funding for the same broken system, rather than needed governance reforms to address the root cause of these problems. This suggests that management of the U.S. National Airspace System will remain mired in the status quo for the time being, and innovations in air traffic control will continue to take place outside the United States.

In addition to the Annual Aviation Infrastructure Report 2025, readers of this newsletter may also be interested in Reason’s Annual Transportation Finance Report, 2025. Robert Poole examines developments in the infrastructure investment fund world, provides updates on the largest companies and major P3 projects underway, and reviews pension funds’ increasing investment in revenue-generating infrastructure.

» return to top

Informing Pilots of Potential Runway Incursions

When ADS-B became required on U.S. aircraft operating in controlled airspace more than 20 years ago, some engineers at Honeywell and Sensis came up with a brilliant safety idea. When that system detects a potential conflict between an aircraft and some other vehicle (aircraft or ground vehicle), don’t just inform controllers in the tower: notify the cockpit crew(s) automatically. Seconds count when moving vehicles are heading for a collision. But the FAA relied only on notifying controllers in the tower (who were then supposed to notify cockpit crews).

As my aviation friend and colleague Mike Gahen reminded me this week, he was present at Syracuse’s Hancock Airport 20 years ago when Honeywell and Sensis demonstrated a cockpit alert system to do exactly that. Pilots witnessing the demonstration were eager to have such cockpit notifications.

Honeywell understood the benefits and began developing and then selling to airlines systems called SmartRunway and SmartLanding, with Southwest being a major customer. The systems are add-ons to Honeywell’s enhanced ground proximity warning system, EGPWS, which all Southwest’s 737s already had. Aviation Daily reported that installation is complete on 94% of that fleet and should be at 100% by October. Reporter Sean Broderick says Honeywell estimates that about 25% of the active commercial fleet has those two systems activated, mentioning as examples Alaska Airlines and Emirates Airlines.

But Honeywell is not stopping there. It has a successor system called Surf-A, now in the FAA certification process. Aviation Week‘s Thierry Dubois reports that the company expects certification by the end of this year. Surf-A relies on ADS-B signals and also links to the aircraft’s Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, and it can provide both aural and visual warnings to cockpit crews. Honeywell’s Bob Buddecke said the retrofit involves a software update and a minor hardware change. They expect FAA certification for the first aircraft type (757) by year-end, with others following in 2026. He points out that “Thousands of aircraft could be equipped for a fraction of the cost of installing equivalent infrastructure at airports.”

Why the FAA did not see the merits of this 20 years ago is puzzling, but at least this significant improvement is finally being implemented.

» return to top

Could Airport Screening Be Privatized?

The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill startled some members of Congress last month in response to a question about privatized airport screening from a member of the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security panel. “Nothing is off the table,” she said. “If new privatization schemes make sense, then we’re happy to have that discussion to see what we can come up with—it’s not an all-or-nothing game.” She also said that “airport choice” on how to proceed is important, baffling Politico’s reporter.

As one who was present at TSA’s creation, let me explain. As one of the few aviation policy analysts who knew something about airport security screening prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, I was invited to Washington in Nov. 2001 to advise the House aviation subcommittee on to-be-drafted legislation to beef up the rather pathetic pre-9/11 screening at U.S. airports. In three days in D.C., I had meetings with the White House and committee staff and took part in a news conference with committee members on the Capitol steps.

In these meetings, I explained that the problem with U.S. airport screening was not that it was being provided by private security companies. Rather, those companies were being hired and paid by the airlines in the relevant terminals, who wanted fast, inexpensive screening—something of a conflict of interest. I explained that in most of Europe, screening was done by private security firms (or in some cases, trained airport staff). In both cases, the screening had to meet government-prescribed security performance measures. The resulting House bill favored this approach to beefed-up screening.

The Senate was a different story. In the post-9/11 panic, private screening was mistakenly seen as the basic flaw, and a 100% federal takeover was prescribed as the answer—not only federal standards and regulations but a new federal workforce imposed on nearly every U.S. airport. The House rejected the Senate bill by a four-vote margin and passed its own bill instead. When it came time to work out a compromise, a White House official said that if a bill based mostly on the Senate approach was negotiated, President George W. Bush would sign it. That undercut House negotiators, and the compromise allowed airports to request private screening, but only under TSA control. That’s how we got today’s TSA Screening Partnership Program (SPP), under which about 20 airports (including SFO) have TSA-selected screening companies rather than TSA screeners.

Hence, what Acting Administrator McNeil was apparently suggesting is that TSA would be open to revisions to the current SPP. As Marc Scribner explained in the March 2025 issue of this newsletter, the way TSA operates SPP is bizarre. Instead of the airport being able to select a TSA-certified screening company that best meets its needs and contract with it, TSA itself selects a company and enters into a contract with it. This is not how other public services are outsourced. A meaningful reform would be for TSA to allow airports to solicit proposals from TSA-approved security companies and allow the airport to contract with the one that best meets its needs. TSA would still regulate its performance.

A more-fundamental reform would be for Congress to remove TSA’s dual roles. As currently structured, TSA is both the federal aviation security regulator and the primary provider of airport screening—so it basically regulates itself, a clear conflict of interest. TSA should be the aviation security regulator, period.

» return to top

News Notes

Progress on Newark ATC Problems
There is some good news from the FAA on the ongoing problems at Newark. First, the runway that had been out of service, supposedly until mid-June, has reopened thanks to the work having been completed ahead of schedule. Second, DOT Secretary Duffy announced on May 28 that the new fiber line that transmits flight data from the New York TRACON to the Philadelphia TRACON (which handles EWR airspace) has been installed, but that operational testing will not be completed until sometime in July. And once that line is in use, a second fiber line will replace the remaining copper line.

Inspectors General to Review DCA Safety Regulation
DOT Secretary Sean Duffy has asked the agency’s Inspector General to review current air safety protocols in the airspace of Reagan National Airport (DCA). The New York Times reported that the Senate Commerce Committee has asked both the DOT and the Department of Defense Inspector General to do likewise. In addition, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the fatal Jan. 29 collision continues and is scheduled to run through next January.

Florida Airports Planning Remote/Digital Towers
Several sources reported last month that Bartow and Winter Haven, in central Florida, are pursuing a remote tower (RT) center to be developed by Frequentis. The RT center will be located at Bartow Executive Airport and will manage traffic at Winter Haven. City commissioners of the latter city have approved requesting a $500,000 grant from Florida DOT for the project, which is part of a $1.5 million appropriation in the state’s draft (not yet approved) budget. The project will require approval from the FAA and spectrum approval from the FCC.

House Bill Would Permit Over-Land Supersonic Flight
On May 14, Sen.Ted Budd (R-NC) and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) introduced legislation to repeal the 1973 ban on supersonic flight over land within the United States. The change would permit supersonic flights whose sonic booms do not reach the ground. Test flights of the Boom Supersonic demonstrator aircraft early this year appear to have achieved “boomless cruise.” On June 6, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on the subject, directing the FAA administrator to remove the current prohibition on overland supersonic flight and establish an interim noise-based certification standard. Separately, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is working on new aircraft noise standards (including for supersonic flight), as Aviation Daily reported (May 15).

Increased Space Launch Activity Prompts Senate User Fee Proposal
Pending environmental impact statements (EISs) for new and refurbished launch sites at Cape Canaveral, FL, are based on projections of 120 annual launches of SpaceX’s giant Starship within the next few years. That is in addition to 100 or more Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. In response, the Senate Commerce Committee has proposed a commercial launch user fee to account for the increasingly large amounts of airspace that must be closed during launches and recoveries of spent boosters. The fee would be charged by the FAA, and the proceeds would be used for replacing aging radars and other equipment, and potentially other facilities and equipment improvements.

Frequentis Announces Digital Tower Runway Capacity Gains
Austrian avionics company Frequentis says improved image processing could enable large airports to gain 10-20% more runway throughput. The key technology is a new image processing capability in 4K cameras that can now match the human eye, seeing up to 8 nm. Controllers could then use the panoramic screen as their main information source, without having to manually operate cameras. According to an Aviation Daily article, this could make digital towers feasible for large airports. During Munich Airport’s refurbishment, controllers are using this kind of high-capacity digital tower system. The German ANSP (DFS) plans to keep Munich’s digital tower in place as a contingency tower, with the capacity to manage 100% of airport flights.

Aireon Starts Next Phase of Space-Based VHF Communications
Last month, space-based ADS-B pioneer Aireon announced plans for a new 20-satellite constellation in equatorial orbit, aimed at being operational by 2028. Last year Aireon launched its Space-Based VHF Consortium with ANSPs AirNav Ireland, NATS, and Nav Canada, along with satellite operator Iridium. This year’s focus includes identifying vendors to develop ths satellites and support systems. Space-based ADS-B has thus far lacked space-based voice communications, so this will be a significant step forward.

Jet Zero to Produce Blended Wing Body Airliner in North Carolina
Aviation Daily reported that JetZero, developer of the most advanced blended wing body (BWB) airliner, has selected a location at Piedmont Triangle Airport in Greensboro, NC, as the site where it will produce its Z4 commercial aircraft. The prototype is under construction by Scaled Composites in Mojave, CA. The Piedmont Triad airport is also the location selected by Boom Supersonic for its production facility, and Honda Aircraft’s HondaJet assembly plant is also located there. JetZero plans to begin building production prototypes at its new plant in 2029.

Philippines Plans Regional Airports Privatization
The Philippines Department of Transportation plans to offer “bundles” of regional airports for long-term public-private partnerships (P3s), according to Infralogic (May 12). Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said the agency is working with the International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank to plan the P3 procurements. Bidding is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of this year, with long-term contracts awarded in 2026. The aim of the program is to have 20 regional airports being managed via P3s by the time the current administration ends in Jan. 2029.

Ultra-Short-Take-Off Company Raised $115 Million
Electra.aero announced in mid-April that it had raised $115 million to begin production of its EL9, the first-ever ultra-short-take-off/landing aircraft (which can take off and land in 150 feet). Electra has more than 2,200 pre-orders valued at over $10 billion for the EL9. It has also won military contracts and is underway on a U.S. Air Force contract to develop military use cases for the EL9. The battery-powered aircraft has a cargo payload of up to 3,000 lbs. and a range of up to 1,100 miles with in-flight battery recharging.

Venice Airport New P3 Nears Completion
A bid by new investors to buy out the current SAVE consortium that runs the airport of Venice, Italy was nearing a financial close last month, reported Infralogic (May 13). The new team is backed by Ardian Infrastructure; the majority members of SAVE are DWS and Infravia, which hold 88% of SAVE. Ardian and Finint would each hold 50% of the new entity if the deal goes through as planned.

Curacao Developing Remote Tower Center
A groundbreaking ceremony took place on May 27 for a new ATC operations center in Seru Mahuma, Curacao. The new center is located next to the headquarters of DC-ANSP, the Dutch Caribbean Air Navigation Service Provider. By including remote/digital tower facilities, the new center will manage traffic for both Curacao and Bonaire. DC-ANSP sees the new capability as positioning Curacao as a “technological leader in Caribbean airspace management”. Too bad our FAA cannot make a similar claim.

Washington State’s Paine Field Plans P3 Expansion
Snohomish County, WA, has begun “formal discussions” with airport terminal developer/operator Propellor Airports to consider a further P3 to expand the terminal that Propellor financed, built, and operates at the formerly general-aviation-only airport. Thanks to the passenger terminal, Paine Field is now served by Alaska and Frontier Airlines, but the small size of the terminal limits air travel growth. The region’s major airport, Sea-Tac, will reach its maximum passenger capacity in 2034, and no expansion is planned. Since 2019, investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners has been an investor in the Paine Field terminal.

NAV Portugal Implements Point Merge at Lisbon Airport
The ANSP for Portugal has reconfigured airspace in the vicinity of Lisbon’s international airport, using a system called Point Merge, developed in 2006 by Eurocontrol but not widely implemented thus far in Europe. The new Lisbon airspace was launched in May 2024, and in its first year, delays in that airspace have decreased more than 30% overall. Point Merge replaced traditional holding patterns. And the delay reductions are even larger when considering delays directly attributable to ATC. NAV Portugal puts that those reductions at 40 to 92%, according to a June 6 Aviation Daily article.

Article Explains ARINC Role in Beginning ATC
A recent article in Aviation Intelligence Reporter said that both ARINC and SITA were created after World War II. When I explained to its editor, Andrew Charlton, that ARINC was founded in 1929 and introduced this country’s first air traffic control, he invited me to submit an article on the subject. ARINC also pioneered the nonprofit, stakeholder-governed ATC corporation model, eventually re-appearing as Nav Canada in 1995. My article appears in that newsletter’s June 2025 issue. Andrew has offered a three-month trial AIR subscription to readers of this newsletter. Go to: https://aviationintelligencereporter.aero/free-trial. If you would like a copy of my article, send a request to me at bob.poole@reason.org.

Reaching Non-Aviation Audiences on ATC Reform
If Congress is ever going to take up fundamental air traffic control reform, the reason for such changes needs to reach opinion leaders beyond aviation. An excellent example is “The Real Problem with the FAA,” in The Atlantic, May 19. The author is Dorothy Robyn, who has held a number of high-level positions in the federal government. I first met her when she was on the staff of the White House National Economic Council during the Clinton administration, where she worked on that administration’s USATS air traffic control corporation proposal.

View from the Wing on Remote Towers
In an excellent article, Gary Leff of View from the Wing takes on the FAA’s bizarre opposition to remote/digital towers. The piece appeared online on May 24.

History of ATC Corporation Proposals From CRS
If you are curious how many times serious analysts and institutions have proposed shifting U.S. air traffic control from the FAA to a self-supporting ATC corporation, the Congressional Research Service has done your homework for you. It dates all the way back to a 1974 study by Glen Gilbert, whom the FAA and the Air Traffic Control Association consider the “father of US air traffic control.” Others include my 1982 Heritage Foundation policy study, the National Performance Review, and USATS proposals from the Clinton administration, the 2014 FAA Management Advisory Council report, and the 2016 House bill championed by Rep. Bill Shuster. It is Air Traffic Inc.: Considerations Regarding the Corporatization of Air Traffic Control. The updated version is dated May 16, 2017

» return to top

Quotable Quotes

“Unfortunately, our Airspace System is no longer considered the gold standard worldwide. Several critical issues, including aging infrastructure, outdated technology, staffing shortages, and a broken hiring and training process, have been persistent concerns for decades. The consequences could be severe, impacting efficiency safety, and national security. . . . FAA leadership acknowledges the dire state of infrastructure. The condition of our ATC facilities and radars continues to worsen. FAA towers now average 40 years old, TRACONs 27 years, and ARTCCs 62 years, and the majority of radars are approaching 40 years. . . . The FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2018 provided a viable framework for separating the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) from federal appropriations, ensuring stable, predictable funding. However, any effort must not operate as a for-profit model that prioritizes revenue over safety.”
—Paul M. Rinaldi, former president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, written testimony before the Aviation Subcommittee of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, March 4, 2025

“[Mr. Duffy], you’ve often mentioned the need to hire more air traffic controllers. That’s a great idea. But what’s your strategy for that? For decades, the plan has been simple. If the system needs 2000 new controllers, hire 2000 new controllers. Except that idea has never worked, because the failure rate of trainees still hovers around 30-35 percent. If you want 2000 new controllers, you probably need to begin training 2500-3000 people to end up with 2000. . . .  . . . The core of the staffing issue dates back to August 3, 1981 when President Reagan fired nearly 13,000 controllers . . . [and] the agency never took the action it should have to fix staffing back then.”
—Robert Mark, “Secretary Duffy’s ATC Modernization Plan Has a Couple of Problems,” Jetwhine, May 12, 2025

“It is baffling that this Administration, which wants to reduce the size of the federal government, isn’t proposing to take over 35,000 people off the federal payroll (the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization) and allow them to operate a nonprofit public corporation that is freed from stifling government regulations…This is an old idea, recommended by virtually every group that has ever studied the situation. And as the Journal points out, this structure has been proven in Canada and numerous other countries throughout the world to work safely and effectively. It also has the great benefit of separating the safety regulator from the operating organization. Finally, and equally important, any entity given this massive responsibility should be given the tools and resources to make long-term capital investments just like successful US companies do every day. That can only be done by freeing the agency from the vice-grip of federal budgeting.”
—Will Ris, letter to the Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2025

» return to top

The post Aviation Policy News: New control tower consolidation proposal is bold appeared first on Reason Foundation.

Source: https://reason.org/aviation-policy-news/control-tower-consolidation-is-a-bold-idea/