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GAO-16-386R 1 (2016-02-10)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaajph0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A O U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 February 10, 2016 The Honorable Peter DeFazio Ranking Member Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure House of Representatives The Honorable Rick Larsen Ranking Member Subcommittee on Aviation Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure House of Representatives Subject: Federal Aviation Administration: Preliminary Observations of Potential Air Traffic Control Restructuring Transition Issues Since 1987, several countries have shifted the responsibility for providing air traffic control (ATC) services from national civil aviation authorities, to independent, self-financed air navigation service providers (ANSP) with either public or private ownership. The ownership structure of these ANSPs varies from government-owned entities (e.g., either wholly owned or partially owned government corporations) to privately owned entities (e.g., entities with private ownership and control of an air-traffic services corporation). A privately-owned entity can be a for-profit or a non-profit entity. In the United States, which is generally considered to have the busiest, most complex and safest ATC system in the world, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-operates both the ATC service and is the safety regulator. Over the past two decades, U.S. aviation stakeholders have debated whether the FAA should remain the entity that operates and modernizes the ATC system or whether a restructured entity should take on this role. In 2014, we found that, according to stakeholders and FAA officials we interviewed, it is important to identify what problem or problems separating ATC services out of FAA is intended to solve, before proceeding with it as a solution. Specifically, the current system faced challenges related to (1) mitigating the effects of an uncertain fiscal environment and (2) modernizing the ATC system.1 You asked us to explore potential transition issues to be addressed if the current U.S. ATC organization were restructured. This report provides preliminary information on the nature and scope of key issues associated with such a transition, according to selected experts and literature, and is based on our ongoing review of transition issues associated with a potential ATC restructure. 1 GAO, Air Traffic Control System: Selected Stakeholders' Perspectives on Operations, Modernization, and Structure, GAO-14-770 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 12, 2014). GAO-16-386R Potential Air Traffic Control Transition Issues Page 1

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