ATC
Public-private co-op could lower AFSS costs
Members of the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS), the labor union that represents more than 2,700 FAA employees who staff the agency’

Members of the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS), the labor union that represents more than 2,700 FAA employees who staff the agency’s automated flight service stations (AFSS), are joining with information technology contractor Harris Corp. in a bid to keep their jobs from being outsourced to a private company.

The FAA has been studying the possibility of turning the operation of 58 AFSS facilities over to an outside provider for some time, despite assurances by FAA Administrator Marion Blakey during the FAA budget squabble last fall that the agency had no plans to privatize any part of the ATC system for at least a year.