WHO BENEFITS FROM THE STATUS QUO? SEVERAL KEY GROUPS BENEFIT FROM THE CURRENT TAX-FUNDED, GOVERNMENT-RUN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM.

PRIVATE PILOTS, represented by the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA), and the various companies and organizations that supply the "general aviation" (G.A.) community. Although many G.A. flights do not use air traffic control (ATC) services, those that do pay nothing directly. Instead, they owe a modest aviation fuel tax; the revenue from this tax makes up just 0.1 percent of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) budget. For decades, AOPA and the rest of the G.A. community have fought ATC corporatization out of fear that such a change would lead to the implementation of unaffordable user fees for some or all G.A. flights. Many countries do impose ATC charges on small private planes, but that is not true of Nav Canada, which is the model for American ATC reform. In Canada, small planes pay an annual fee of just 68 Canadian dollars.

BUSINESS JET OPERATORS, represented by the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). These craft fly in the same airspace as airliners and use 10-12 percent of all ATC services, but their jet fuel taxes provide only 1.2 percent of the FAA's budget. Everywhere else in the developed world, business jets pay standard weight-distance ATC fees, which this constituency in America would strongly prefer to avoid. But business jets are thriving worldwide, so ATC fees are obviously not curtailing those planes' use.

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, who have the authority to micromanage the FAA. When it comes to air traffic control, this often means preventing the consolidation of facilities (keeping many ATC facilities open becomes "protecting jobs in my district") and specifying that the FAA must use certain technologies or systems (because politicians tend to favor established suppliers, many of whom are campaign contributors). Since a number of members of the House and Senate are also licensed private pilots, the General Aviation caucuses are disproportionately influential players on Capitol Hill.

MOST GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE UNIONS, who assume that ATC...