Supervisors to Ask FAA for Air Traffic Study
LOS ANGELES — The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday will ask federal officials whether privatizing air traffic control operations at Los Angeles International Airport would increase safety.
The motion by Supervisor Don Knabe calls for the county to send a letter to the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration requesting a study in light of 14 near misses at LAX last year.
“It’s not an issue of profit,” said Knabe, whose district includes the airport, “it’s an issue of safety.”
But representatives of air traffic controllers said privatization is a dangerous idea.
“The United States of America has the safest and most efficient air traffic control system in the world,” said Robert Marks of Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control. “The safety of the public is not for sale to the lowest bidder.”
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