Aviation leaders have long called for the U.S.' air traffic control system to be overhauled and modernized, as staffing shortages and antiquated infrastructure have caused delays in recent years. (Tim Evans/Reuters)
Nations around the globe have privatized and corporatized versions of their own air traffic control systems — many of which are government-owned corporations or nonprofit entities that don't rely on taxpayer funds for operations. Proponents of privatization frequently point to Canada as an example to replicate.
Unions and U.S. lawmakers, however, have opposed previous moves to privatize while underscoring that the U.S. has the largest and most complex air traffic control brain in the world, and that disturbing an already well-established machine would risk airline safety and shift power to airlines and private interests.
Canada's government oversaw its air-traffic services until 1996, when Nav Canada was launched and implemented.
Nav Canada is a not-for-profit, self-financed corporation that relies on fees charged to users for funding. Proponents of privatization in the U.S. frequently point to Canada's success in freeing air travel from its reliance on public funds, and its ability to quickly modernize air traffic control's dated infrastructure as evidence to carry out a similar overhaul below the northern border.
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Nav Canada is governed by a 15-member board that includes leaders from across the spectrum as it relates to aviation, including, "the Government of Canada, commercial air carriers, the general aviation sector and unionized air navigation service employees," according to its website.
Furchtgott-Roth said that if the U.S. were to privatize, it would operate similarly to Canada's system, including relying on funds from user fees to operate — not federal funds.
The Trump administration has touted massive modernization efforts in 2025, most notably a $12.5 billion investment under the "big, beautiful bill." (Getty Images)
Unions and lawmakers under the first Trump administration pushed back against the proposal to privatize, arguing that the U.S.' air traffic control is deeply complex and massive compared to other countries, and that privatizing would risk efforts to modernize the system and would expose air travel to uncertainties as it related to private funding.
Democratic lawmakers uniformly opposed the bill, while some Republicans also backed away from supporting the measure out of concern that a private entity could favor larger airports, affecting rural and small airports.
"Establishing a private ATC board outside the purview of Congress with the unilateral power to collect fees and distribute service would threaten safety, accessibility, affordability and pilot generation — which is already in a critical state," a group of five GOP senators wrote at the time opposing the measure. "Without proper and public oversight, this threat would be most readily felt in rural communities and the general aviation industry, which could experience reduction in ATC service."
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Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also has pushed back against privatizing the agency, telling the media in August that such plans were not on the table.
"I could spend my time the next three and a half years fighting over privatization. I’m not going to do that," said Duffy. "What I’m going to do is put every resource into training up more air traffic controllers to get them certified in their airspace in which they’re going to work but also getting those experienced controllers to stay on the job, paying them a little more to not retire and continue to work for us."
Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has pushed back against privatization. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Beyond debate over privatization, industry leaders across the board have long called for the antiquated air traffic control system to be modernized, including in 2023 when a computer outage grounded and delayed thousands of flights across the nation.
The Trump administration has touted massive modernization efforts in 2025, most notably a $12.5 billion investment under the "big, beautiful bill," which passed in July. The funds are being used to modernize telecommunications equipment, and to replace radar systems and build a new air traffic route control center.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Transportation Department for any updates on privatization following the end of the shutdown but did not immediately receive responses.
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