NextGen is 'way over budget and is not going to be a good system': President Trump

US President Donald Trump referred (09-Feb-2017) to the US ATC system as, "Totally out of whack", adding, "We want the travelling public to have the greatest customer service and with an absolute minimum of delays". Mr Trump stated the US FAA's NextGen project is, "Way over budget... behind schedule... and when it's complete it's not going to be a good system". Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly agreed with Mr Trump's comments while mentioning privatising the US ATC system, stating, "We want the government out of managing the ATC system so that it can be adequately managed, adequately financed, and we can get this done". Mr Kelly stated the industry estimates it is losing USD25 billion p/a with the current ATC systems, while Mr Trump acknowledged, "So you'd save a lot of time, you'd save a tremendous amount of fuel" if the system was overhauled. [more - original PR]