On being stranded
by Robin Bagby
I’m sitting in the Roanoke airport waiting for my flight to Chicago. It’s late, and the word is it’s due to air traffic control. I foolishly thought that I didn’t need to worry about my flight on Feb. 28, as the dreaded sequester officially hit on March 1.
I have been thinking about the sequester. It seems to me that it might be a blessing in disguise. Our elected officials have so far been paralyzed (but that’s another discussion). The sequester was designed to be so odious that no one expected it to happen. But it did. And maybe it should have.
Bagby lives in Roanoke.
March 4, 2013 - 6:16 AM
Air traffic control should be privatized. That is the way it’s done in the rest of the world except for the USA and the communist/socialist countries.
Having been delayed a lot of times, in a lot of airports, for a whole lot of reasons (and a few times for no reason), I would question blaming sequestration for Ms. Bagby’s experience. I agree with her larger point, though.
89hoo – I agree, I don’t think the sequester caused the delay, I think it was weather related in DC. But it is what got me thinking about possible effects of the sequester.
Thank you, Robin. I agree with your larger point.
#1 Which of the leading industrialized nations have privatized ATC and, more importantly, how well is that working? The stories from Canada, Great Britain, France, and Australia are all about increases in incident rates, controllers going on strike, government bailouts, large and sudden increases in fees, etc. We actually do a fair amount of private ATC here in the US, but only at smaller fields. Privatization of ATC could work but I don’t think it’s prudent to assume that costs could automatically be lowered without affecting service.
Our Sec of State just promised Egypt millions in aid. I believe our foreign aid should be the first thing cut in this over hyped sequester.
#6 Al, instability in the Middle East is a huge liability for the US. It will end up costing us even more if the situation in Egypt boils over into full-blow civil war. If they can calm down long enough to spend our money it could buy us enough time to deal with Syria. John Kerry is an amazingly talented and accomplished man, he will be a great Secretary of State.
Aren’t we adding to the instability in the ME?
#7 Yes. But also #8, yes.
Time will tell, perhaps relatively quickly, on Kerry…..but for what it’s worth, in any realm….I like what I see thus far of Kerry.
8, not sure honestly. gotta hope the folks at state know more than i.
10 – judging by their actions of the last fifty years, I wouldn’t count on the people at state having any clue of human action or statecraft. Or even of knowing what NOT to do.
#5 Name, I don’t know where you get your information. The vast majority of the rest of the world has privatized their ATC.
My son is an airline pilot for a major airline, he flies out of Kennedy in NYC to all over the world. He says foreign private ATC works just fine and believes the US should do the same. It’s the foreign airline pilots that dislike flying in US airspace, they think US controllers are not as good as what they are used to overseas.
It never ceases to amaze me how liberals always believe that the government can do it better than the private sector. If “big business” is bad, why is “big government” good?
#12 John, if you had actually read my #5 instead of jumping to the conclusion that I would always assume a liberal position, you’d have noticed that I said privatization of ATC could work (yep, those exact words). But first of all, everything should be examined closely including what works and what doesn’t, and second, I don’t think it’s valid to assume that privatization will necessarily save any money in the US.
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If the argument for privatization of ATC is that foreign countries do it that way, shouldn’t that argument work for single-payer, socialized health care? Just wondering.
We already have a hybrid system with some contract ATC and some FAA.
“Canada has had NAV Canada, a privately run, not-for-profit corporation, running its civil air navigation system since 1996.
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…NAV Canada has been successful at keeping costs low by negotiating with controllers to keep flexible schedules. As a result, fewer controllers need to be hired and labor costs are kept low. However, this flexibility comes at a cost: since NAV Canada took over operations they have an aircraft incident rate twice that as the U.S. with a system 7% the size of the U.S. Moreover, NAV Canada has suffered by inefficiencies, inadequate staffing and huge financial losses. These losses led NAV Canada to increase fees that airlines (and ultimately passengers) by 7% to cover its debt. And Canada is not the only country with a privatized air traffic system. In Great Britain, near-misses increased by 50% and delays have grown enormously since privatization. Likewise, in Australia, cost saving work rules have led to a strikes by controllers that shut down air traffic movement for hours.
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…While not having to deal with Congressional funding for technological improvements would be a boon, the Canadian, Australian and British cases show that speedy implementation of new technology is not necessarily an outgrowth of privatization. Canada simply imports its technology from U.S., after it has been developed for use by the U.S. air traffic system. Implementation of new technology has led to technological failures in both Australia and Great Britain. Many news reports from Great Britain and Australia claim that major inefficiency and safety hazards have resulted from the implementation of new technology by privatized air traffic control systems.”
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http://airportlaw.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/has-the-time-come-to-privatize-air-traffic-control/
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Privatization IMO was a big part of why VDOT fell apart. Privatization of prisons has not been a win/win either. I would not wish that on the important job of ATC. And I don’t even fly!
And I suppose you libs are satisfied with the US postal service! The private sector UPS and Fedex make the postal sevice look like a bunch of stumble bums!
Are you aware that the USPS delivers for both FedEx and UPS? Are you aware that their rates are competitive with FedEx and UPS and that neither FedEx nor UPS will deliver mail? That they charge extra for deliveries to certain areas? Compared to what the cost of mail and the time frames would be with FedEx and UPS, yes, I am very satisfied with the USPS and I say you are wrong in even comparing them and that you have done so unfairly.
One of the things that is often forgotten when comparing how services like post office or air traffic control function in the US vs. Europe or the Far East is that our population density is generally much smaller than theirs. So it’s inherently more expensive to provide services to outlying areas. Countries with lower population densities than the US have privatized ATC. The question is how well it’s working for *them*, and what lessons can we learn about privatization in a place where population density is both low and quite heterogeneous. Not how well is it working for Germany or Japan. The best to study probably are Canada and Australia.
The Postal Service has an interesting arrangement with UPS and FedEx, and one that is very lucrative for FedEx and UPS. Basically, USPS serves as the “final mile” delivery service, particularly for rural areas for FedEx and UPS because they already have the infrastructure to do that. On the other hand, the USPS contracts with FedEx and UPS for air transportation and distribution because the private companies already have THOSE in place. In the end, the private companies make a lot more than they spend on the deal.
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A links with some background (from August 2012):
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http://www.minyanville.com/business-news/editors-pick/articles/postal-service-usps-post-office-post/8/3/2012/id/42951?refresh=1
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FedEx earned $1.495 billion from the Postal Service last year as the agency’s number one supplier. UPS, the Postal Service’s 11th largest supplier, earned $102 million from the Postal Service, a $7 million increase from the year before.
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FedEx has flown Express Mail, Priority Mail and First Class Mail for the Postal Service since 2000. According to Alan Robinson, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of the Postal Market and the publisher of the Courier Express and Postal Observer, the income generated by this “represents around 60% of FedEx Express’s US domestic air freight revenue.”
Everybody, including myself, loves their mail carrier, I always give him a Christmas bonus. But I have never seen a mail carrier running with a package.
If it wasn’t for junk mail and catalogs, the post office would not survive. I get very little first class mail.
We always give ours a starbucks gift card.
It is not about making more than they spend. If FedEx and UPS had to deliver to every home in the US daily, their costs would soar. They are not set up to do daily mail delivery, never have been.
Businesses still rely on first class mail to deliver their invoices and their payments.
21 – well, FedEx and UPS are not set up for first class mail, ’tis true. Of course, they (and everyone else except the USPS) also are forbidden by law from delivering first class mail, so it’s a moot point. I would wager a private company COULD deliver first class mail at least as efficiently as the USPS, were it legal, if they set out to do so. It’s been done before.
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And Sandi, you’d better believe for UPS and FedEx it very much IS about the bottom line.
Why do you parse every word? Obviously I meant this discussion is not about making more than they spend. Of course for a business and the USPS they have to be about making more than they spend. Was that really necessary?
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It is odd to see “originalists” advocate for taking away the constitutional duty of the USPS and giving it to a private business. Maybe a cheaper, more efficient military could be had too…There is certainly a clamor to privatize the Veterans Administration and Medicare.
So the USPS has a monopoly and still cannot make a buck?
Well, the Constitution grants authority to congress to deliver the mail, not a mandate. There is nothing in the original Constitution that says a private company cannot deliver mail. If that were the case, congress would not have had to pass a law explicitly outlawing competition (in the 1850s, I believe). Said legislation passed in response to a private company (Lysander Spooner’s American Letter Mail Company) delivering mail cheper and faster than the postal service. If you can’t beat ‘em, outlaw ‘em (since they we perfectly legal in the original constitution).
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And I agree that we should privatize Medicare and the Veterans Administration. That would be wins all around. Good idea, Sandi (see? we CAN find common ground!).
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And I think I like the idea of private armies more than standing armies, though there is always the risk of another Rubicon.