Starting on November 7, the New York Times reports, the number of commercial flights to and from 40 of America’s busiest airports will drop by 10%.

Not because fewer people want to travel by air (in fact, we’re about to see the year’s busiest travel season).

Not because a major airline went out of business (smaller airlines come and go, but the last really big one to disappear was TWA in 2001).

Not because there’s some shortage of available aircraft (that’s ongoing, but not part of this particular problem).

Thousands of flights will be canceled because the federal government is in a supposed “shutdown.”

Air traffic controllers are working without pay until that “shutdown” gets resolved.

As you might imagine, employees who aren’t getting paychecks become less reliable about showing up for work. Some of them quit. Others call in sick. Towers are short-staffed.

I hear from a friend that” general aviation” — private planes and so forth, as opposed to commercial airlines — has already been taking a hit on getting air traffic control guidance.

Now we’re reaching the point where there just aren’t enough controllers working to safely handle the 10 million commercial flights that take off and land each year at American airports. US secretary of transportation Sean Duffy characterizes the flight cuts as a way to “alleviate the pressure.”

There’s an easy long-term solution to this problem, and it doesn’t involve screaming at politicians to get their act together, pass a spending bill, and start paying all those air traffic controllers again.

It’s time to take air traffic control away from the government, at least with respect to letting the Federal Aviation Administration serve as the controllers’ employer.

In 2024, US airlines reported revenues of $247.2 billion and net profits of $6.7 billion. Those airlines, and the airports they fly in and out of, are perfectly capable of taking over air traffic control services and facilities as a “private sector” activity. They’ve got a shared interest in passenger safety and efficient operations; they can surely work out the details in an amicable manner.

Wouldn’t such a transition make flying more expensive? Well, sort of, at least temporarily.

Ticket prices might rise at first, but I suspect the airlines/airports are better at making operations efficient and cutting costs than the US government.

And to the extent that prices do rise, that just means air travelers, rather than all taxpayers, will be footing the bill. Which, if you think about it, is exactly the way it should be.

Some things — all things in my opinion, but certainly THIS thing — are too important to trust to the whims of politicians and leave in the unreliable hands of government.

Fire the FAA and pay the air traffic controllers.

Thomas L. Knapp (X: @thomaslknapp | Bluesky: @knappster.bsky.social | Mastodon: @knappster) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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