BURSTTransportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday said he is not looking to privatize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or its air traffic controllers, an idea floated by President Trump during his first term.
“I could spend my time the next three and a half years fighting over privatization. I'm not going to do that,” Duffy said during a Wednesday appearance on NewsNation’s “On Balance.”
“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,” he added.
Duffy noted lawmakers previously looked into privatizing the agency in 2018, after Trump the previous year announced a plan to privatize the U.S. air traffic control system, which he called "stuck, painfully, in the past."
"Today we're proposing to take American air travel into the future, finally," Trump said in June 2017. But the effort never took off.
Conversations about the country's air traffic control system quickly reignited during Trump's second term, due to a January midair collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter over D.C. resulting in more than 60 deaths.
Since then, near-miss incidents have occurred at airports across the country.
Some officials have blamed the issue on understaffing, as air traffic controller numbers remain at an all-time low for the FAA. Duffy has made recruiting a priority, along with efforts to increase investment in modern technology.
“We want the best and the brightest to be our air traffic controllers,” he told host Leland Vittert.
Trump and Duffy have both blamed the January crash in part on hiring practices under former President Biden.
Duffy blamed the Biden administration for allegedly allowing air traffic controllers to be approved for work at a “lowered” standard.
“What we've done is said, 'Listen, if you're 90-100 percent, you're best qualified. If you're 80-89 percent, you are well qualified,'” Duffy said, referring to new qualification measurements.
“We have a 35 percent washout rate at the academy. So I'm in the business of getting the best minds, the best people, the best scores in the academy first.”
Canada is among multiple countries that have privatized their air traffic control system.
Other countries with at least partially privatized systems include the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Germany, according to NPR.