A Trump administration proposal aimed at privatizing the Dulles and Reagan airports in Washington has moved the White House, which last month unveiled a $ 200 billion infrastructure plan. According to Travel Weekly, this proposal must go beyond the American destination.

One way to expand this business is the Airport Privatization Pilot Program, which was approved by Congress in 1997, but so far has met only two participants: San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Stewart, one hour from New York.

Currently, 65% of the operators of an airport must approve a request for privatization. In addition, carriers representing 65% of the airport traffic must approve the deal. The White House plan would get rid of this double voting rule and instead would require only 50% of the operators of an airport to sign the privatization.

Other deadlocks are related to funding, as publicly owned airports in the country have access to municipal bonds exempt from taxation. The federal government also allows some private entities to issue tax-exempt private activity titles, but private airport operators are not eligible to use such titles. With the new proposal, Trump’s plan would also eliminate this issue.

Opposite scenario
In the United States, privatization of airports is quite common in other parts of the world. In Europe, for example, 79 airports, including Heathrow, London, were fully privatized from 2016, according to an analysis by Airports Council International Europe.

More than 40% of European airports, which together handle about 75% of the continent’s passenger traffic, owned at least some private owners and this is a trend that should gain momentum in the country governed by Trump.

Source: PANROTAS
Photo: Wikimedia Commons