US: Trump to kick off infrastructure drive with air-traffic proposal

Donald Trump next week will send Congress a proposal to hand over control of the US air-traffic control system to a non-profit corporation, part of a week-long push for his infrastructure plan, said Gary Cohn, the president’s chief economic adviser. The proposal, which Trump will release Monday in an Oval Office ceremony and Rose Garden event, will kick off what Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, called the formal launch of the president’s infrastructure initiative. Later in the week, Trump plans to travel to Ohio to garner support for his plan -- a key campaign promise -- to channel $1t into the nation’s roads, bridges, inland waterways and other public facilities. Trump’s air-traffic control plan will be based largely on legislation introduced in 2016 by Representative Bill Shuster. While providing few specifics, Cohn said Trump’s proposal would create a new user fee to replace current taxes on aviation fuel and airline tickets. He also said there would be unspecified protections for rural airports; critics of the air-traffic plan have said it would jeopardize small airports by giving too much power to airlines and large hubs. While the FAA is already years into a technology upgrade known as NextGen, the efficiency improvements it promises can be done more effectively outside of direct government control, say backers of the White House plan. The FAA would continue to monitor safety and write air-traffic regulations. Most large airlines and some former high-level FAA managers favor the privatization plan, which is opposed by many Democratic lawmakers and private-aviation groups. <br/>