There’s a new focus on air transportation-related legislation on Capitol Hill since U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) has ended efforts to spin off air traffic control from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“We need long-term stability and long-term funding for the FAA,” William Ris, a member of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Management Advisory Council and a former top executive with American Airlines, told Transportation Today. “It’s now incumbent upon Congress to figure out a way to get that done.”
Ris said industry stakeholders were “terribly disappointed” that Rep. Shuster late last month gave up on provisions included in the bipartisan 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act, H.R. 2997, which the congressman introduced June 22, 2017, that would have spun off air traffic control from the FAA into a not-for-profit corporate entity, the American Air Navigation Services Corp., a federally chartered governing body, according to a summary of the bill. Meanwhile, the FAA would have certification authority and would focus strictly on safety regulations separate from the nonprofit entity. Shuster’s committee approved H.R. 2997 last September, but it wasn’t able to get a full vote on the House floor.
“Despite an unprecedented level of support for this legislation — from bipartisan lawmakers, industry, and conservative groups and labor groups alike — some of my own colleagues refused to support shrinking the federal government by 35,000 employees, cutting taxes, and stopping wasteful spending,” Shuster wrote in a statement.
Also opposed to the bill because of the air traffic control provision was a Senate majority, which has its own long-term FAA proposal, the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017, S. 1405, introduced by U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) also on June 22, 2017. Unlike the House measure, S. 1405 would leave air traffic control as it is, among other provisions. The bill was referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which Sen. Thune chairs, but never made it to the Senate floor.
“Although our air traffic control reform provisions did not reach the obvious level of support needed to pass Congress, I intend to work with Senator Thune and move forward with a reauthorization bill to provide long-term stability for the FAA,” Rep. Shuster said.
“It’s really important now that Congress look at alternative ways to creatively finance FAA stability. That’s going to be a challenge,” said Ris.
Retiring in 2016 after 20 years as senior vice president of government affairs for American Airlines, where he was also a member of the Executive Committee, Ris now is one of seven of the newest members appointed last year to the 13-member Management Advisory Council (MAC) by U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
MAC, which advises the FAA’s senior management on policy, spending, long-range planning and regulatory matters, was created by the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996 and meets quarterly. The members serve voluntary three-year terms, retaining their public and private-sector positions.
In addition to his career at American, Ris, an attorney, has gained extensive experience in government and transportation issues. He spent 13 years as executive vice president representing an array of clients at the Wexler Group, a Washington, D.C.-based government relations firm, prior to almost a decade serving the federal government, first as a trial attorney on a now-defunct airline industry regulatory board and then as the principal legal counsel on transportation deregulation legislation to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
On the private-sector side, Ris continues to stay solidly connected to the industry.
He is a long-standing member of the board of directors of aerospace avionics manufacturer Advanced Navigation and Positioning Corp. (ANPC), headquartered in Hood River, Ore., where the company produces landing systems, navigation services and air traffic management solutions for both commercial and military customers. ANPC has contracted with DOT and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Ris also serves on the U.S. Advisory Board of Aireon Inc., which this year, in partnership with several air navigation service providers, plans to deploy a global satellite-based system capable of real-time tracking and monitoring of aircraft around the world. The system will extend Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, across Earth that provides 100 percent surveillance coverage of ADS-B-equipped aircraft.
On Aireon’s advisory board, Ris works alongside notable members including board chairman Norman Mineta, a former Lockheed Martin Corp. executive who served as the U.S. Transportation Secretary for President George W. Bush and as Commerce Secretary for President Bill Clinton, and with board vice chairman Russ Chew, a former FAA chief operating officer and the previous president and COO of JetBlue Airways, who is currently president of KeyForce Capital.
Stable FAA funding is so important, Ris said, because aviation infrastructure isn’t unlike other infrastructure across the country regarding new technology and other resource needs.
“We have let things go for a long time,” he said. “We have 50-year-old radar installations and antiquated equipment. There’s no resiliency and redundancy in the system so if something went wrong, there wouldn’t be back up. The system is incredibly safe, but we need to improve it and move toward next-generation advancements, which require stable funds. That will also help the industry leverage money from the capital markets.”
Over the years, Ris added, Congress has considered myriad ways to fund the FAA, but nothing new and improved has ever happened. The agency has suffered through sequesters and shutdowns, just like other U.S. government departments and agencies, which have slowed it down.
“There are so many different reasons for why nothing has happened,” Ris explained. “There are institutional reasons among certain committees not wanting to lose jurisdiction; fundamental reforms being vigorously opposed by the jet industry; a lack of enthusiasm similar to what Congressman Shuster has — there have just been many reasons.
“And it’s really disappointing. We had a terrific opportunity in joining the rest of the world in creating a more stable and flexible air traffic control system,” he said. “Nevertheless, it is what it is now and we have to deal with the funds we have and ensure next-generation funds are adequate and there’s long-term stability and that agencies have maximum long-term stability under the current structure.”
In early February, Congress passed a temporary spending bill to extend most agency funding until March 23, including for the FAA. It’s the fifth such stopgap of the federal fiscal year (FY), which began Oct. 1, 2017.
Sen. Thune said last week that while lawmakers are trying to work out a long-term bill to reauthorize the FAA by its Sept. 30 deadline, an FAA extension into the summer could be attached to the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill that’s expected to pass by March 23.
The senator also said he’s dropped his own plans to include a pilot training provision addressing how commercial pilot license hours are counted in the long-term FAA reauthorization, a move designed to make the bill more appealing overall and hasten a vote.
Generally, Ris said, the airlines will be watching to see if forthcoming legislation addresses some of their concerns, such as the FAA’s lack of progress around developing its NextGen procedures and technology.
“Overall, they are incredibly supportive of the FAA and what it’s trying to do within its constraints,” he said.