OPENING LINES ANOTHER AVIATION EXPERT WARNS AGAINST ATC PRIVATIZATION Source: www.nbaa.org, Editor, First Published Nov 03rd, 2025 Although the federal government is now reopened, its effects continue to ripple across the aviation system.A flight safety expert who has worked around the world says recent calls to privatize America’s air traffic control (ATC) system are shortsighted and risky. Chris Metts, who has worked on aviation issues in the private sector and government for 35 years, says the reason for concern is simple: privatized systems are vulnerable to economic pressures that force costcutting at the expense of safety and efficiency. Metts spent more than a dozen years at the FAA in the U.S. and Asia. He served as the agency’s VP of U.S. Air Traffic Operations during the 9/11 attacks. He has also worked on flight safety internationally as the transportation specialist at the U.S. embassies in China, Japan and Singapore. “As we’ve watched other countries privatize, it would be important for us to just watch how those [air traffic] organizations are subject to the economy,” he recently told Salt Lake City’s CBS station, KUTV. That’s evident in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand – all of which have privatized their ATC systems and grappled with chronic controller shortages, technology gaps, operational delays and safety concerns. 15 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 11
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