For more than 20 years, administrations on both sides of the aisle have proposed some form of ATC privatization for reasons ranging from ideological purity to hoped-for cost savings and increased efficiency. There was never hard evidence to support the savings and efficiency argument, despite the FAA's historic snail-like speed in accomplishing major revisions to the ATC system. The Obama Administration made a half-hearted attempt for privatization early on, but the vehemence of the opposition caused it to back down and we who make regular use of what is the best air traffic control system in the world—and fly in the ones in other countries that are not nearly as good—thought the privatization snake was finally dead. We sure hoped it was because our ATC system has been doing well—in 2016 the GAO rated it as "the busiest, most complex and safest ATC system in the world." No other system comes even close to handling the volume of traffic as is managed by the FAA every day.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/recent-updates/business-military/atc-privatization-the-airlines-provide-a-preview