The United States operates one of the world's most outdated air traffic control systems, relying on a tax-funded bureaucracy while 96 other countries have shifted to self-funded air navigation service providers separate from their government transport ministries, according to a policy brief published July 9, 2026, by Reason Foundation. The report finds that the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Organization is plagued by antiquated facilities, a chronic shortfall of fully qualified air traffic controllers, and aging technology that falls far behind the state of the art.
According to data from the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization cited in the report, 70 countries have separated their air traffic control provider from the government's transport ministry, and another 26 countries receive air traffic control service from multi-country air navigation service providers. The International Civil Aviation Organization recommends that aviation safety regulation should be at arm's length from airports, airlines, private planes, and all other aspects of aviation, including air traffic control. In its current form, the FAA violates that widely followed principle by combining two functions: it serves as both the nationwide aviation safety regulator and the operator of the country's air traffic control system.
The report states that a principal reason for the U.S. system's major shortcomings is that the FAA depends on Congress for its funding, with the majority generated by a tax on airline tickets that "yields far less annual revenue than needed to properly fund the Air Traffic Organization." The current ticket tax structure was enacted by Congress in 1970 and was not indexed to inflation, the authors write. Though the tax was intended to be dedicated to airport and air traffic control capital investment, Congress diverts most of that revenue to pay the FAA's operating costs, leaving the system unable to replace ancient facilities and obsolete technology.
The report points to Canada as a working model for how the United States could transition from its current structure to a sustainable system. Canada successfully moved from a tax-funded air traffic control system chronically short of adequate revenue and long-term financing to what the report describes as "a sustainable, adaptable non-profit commercial structure capable of continuous modernization." The same kinds of aviation user fees that fund air navigation service providers worldwide could support a separated U.S. Air Traffic Organization, either as a distinct agency within the Department of Transportation or as an independent utility. The report argues that self-regulation—where the FAA both operates and regulates air traffic control—represents poor public policy, and that organizational separation would allow the system to escape its dependence on uncertain and insufficient annual appropriations while enabling continuous upgrades to facilities and technology that currently lag decades behind international standards.