A cornucopia of news, opinion, views, facts and quirky bits that need to be talked about. Join our community and join in the conversation on all matters aviation. The blog includes our weekly round-up of the bits of European aviation you may otherwise have missed – That Was The Week That Was
ANSPs would have us believe their position as monopoly providers of air traffic services is sacred. Air traffic control is a natural monopoly, so their mantra goes. Not for much longer.
A natural monopoly occurs in an industry where there are high fixed costs. Typically, these are industries which require large investments in infrastructure. This means that it would be costly for multiple firms to operate as each would be required to build its own infrastructure, leading to inefficient duplication. Commonly cited natural monopolies include utilities such as electricity lines or water pipelines.
Air traffic control has traditionally been seen as a natural monopoly due to the large sunk costs associated with radar.
However, technological changes are starting to challenge this view and, increasingly, air traffic services can no longer be defined as a natural monopoly. The satellite-based systems emerging from programmes such as NextGen and the Single European Sky can cross national borders and negate much of the need for ground-based infrastructure. Recently there has even been talk about using existing television signals to track aircraft as an alternative to radar.
Without the need for expensive radar equipment, ANSPs would be technically able to compete with each other. As we’ve previously argued, competition in air traffic management would bring a number of benefits to the aviation industry.
However, the mindset of the industry remains an obstacle. ANSPs’ current status as monopoly providers is a result of decisions made by governments in the 1950s and 60s. Technology has come a long way since then. It’s time attitudes caught up. After all, air-traffic-control-is-a-state-mandated-monopoly doesn’t trip off the tongue quite so easily.
