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WASHINGTON (AP) — Responsibility for the nation's air traffic control operations would shift from the government to a private, nonprofit corporation, under legislation introduced Wednesday. The proposal is part of an overhaul of how Washington oversees the aviation system. The measure extends for six years the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration and continues its role as the regulator of aviation safety. But the FAA would lose responsibility for day-to-day air traffic operations and the transition from a radar-based traffic control system to one based on satellite technology. A board representing aviation system users would govern the new, federally chartered air traffic control corporation. The bill also reshuffles how the system is financed, eliminating most airline ticket taxes in favor of a fee-based system, said Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the House transportation committee. Airlines and other aircraft operators would be charged for the services they use, such as controller-directed takeoffs and landings and government weather reports. Airlines are providing the lobbying muscle behind they proposal. They have tried to spin off air traffic control to a nonprofit corporation for at least two decades; such as model has been adopted by dozens of countries. The FAA has worked on its "NextGen" modernization program for more than a decade and says much progress has been made. But airlines say they have yet to see significant benefits from the billions of dollars spent on modernization. Even before the bill was introduced, the privatization proposal drew bipartisan opposition, including from lawmakers on the committees that control the FAA's money flow. But Shuster and Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., chairman of the aviation subcommittee, gained an influential ally Wednesday when the National Air Traffic Controllers Association announced its support for the bill. The bill would also: —seek to accelerate the FAA's safety approval process for new aircraft designs and equipment. —make changes sought by the drone industry in the FAA's powers to regulate unmanned aircraft.

Lawmakers propose bill to privatize air traffic control