Bush administration begins to privatize the skies

[undeterred]

By Noah Page WSWS
15 June 2005

The Bush administration’s quest to privatize virtually everything will pay huge dividends for the American military contractor Lockheed Martin this year. In February, the giant company was awarded a $1.9 billion contract to assume control of an important function of the US aviation system. Some 2,000 air traffic specialists will lose their jobs in October when the company takes over a function that has been performed by the public sector for half a century. These workers should not be confused with those who staff the towers at airports across the country and control the flow of aircraft in and out of airports. Air traffic specialists—highly-trained men and women with years of experience—comprise a different layer of the workers who assist an estimated 550,000 non-commercial pilots.

Since the 1950s, air traffic specialists have handled preflight weather briefings for pilots of small aircraft. They are not meteorologists, although by virtue of their training and, in many instances, years of work in one location that familiarizes them with the nuances of a region’s topography and climate, they are highly skilled at interpreting weather patterns for aviators. They also can play a crucial role in search-and-rescue operations for missing aircraft. In general, they are a pilot’s advocate on the ground, a link to invaluable data.

Operating under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there once were more than 350 automated flight service stations in the United States. During the 1980s, under former President Reagan, that figure dropped to fewer than 60. Under the five-year, $1.9 billion contract awarded to Lockheed Martin this year, 38 more flight stations are expected to close. According to media reports, it is the largest outsourcing project ever undertaken by the federal government.

The origins of the Bush administration’s gift to Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest weapons producers, predate his presidency. Among the right-wing free market advocates who assisted in his 2000 election campaign was Robert Poole, a member of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, a think tank that, according to its web site, promotes “choice, competition and a dynamic market economy as the foundation for human dignity and progress.” In his capacity as the Reason Foundation’s transportation studies director, Poole was the author of a document entitled, “How to Commercialize Air Traffic Control”—a logical next step, from the perspective of “free market” advocates, to follow the deregulation of the airline industry. Poole was instrumental in crafting the Bush campaign’s transportation policy in 2000. It did not take long for his white paper to become policy. Executive Order 13624, signed by Bush in June 2002, deleted the phrase, “an inherently government function,” from a 2000 Clinton order that was intended to keep the flight centers in the public sector.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/air-j15.shtml

[getmeouttahere]

1. Did this "privatization" actually have its beginnings....

when Reagan "fired" the striking air traffic controllers?