NATCA Stages Annual Hill Day

The various issues surrounding FAA funding and the future of air traffic control services will again take center stage in Washington on Monday and Tuesday as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association holds its annual legislative conference. The agenda of speeches and face-to-face lobbying comes a couple of weeks after the FAA let it be known, both in a session it hosted and in House committee hearings, that it believes the system is financially unsustainable. And while assessing user fees for ATC services doesn’t seem to have gathered much political support, there is still plenty of buzz surrounding the issues to ensure an entertaining exchange next week. The conference is being held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill and the list of speakers includes Sen. Ted Kennedy, Rep. John Mica (chairman of the House Aviation and Infrastructure subcommittee) Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Hilary Clinton. NATCA will also do some navel-gazing with a panel discussion entitled “The Washington Political Climate and NATCA.”