Several countries have privatized air traffic control. Should the U.S.?

NPR
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The air traffic control tower at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala. on June 21, 2025. Following a spate of technical outages and staffing shortages, the Trump administration is focusing on reforming the air traffic control system, including the possibility of privatization.

An effort to privatize U.S. air traffic control in 2017 never took off. Now the aviation industry is uniting behind the Trump administration's plan to overhaul the system.

(Image credit: Russell Lewis)

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