Frank Lautenberg: “I have no objection to those smaller airports converting to that system. But we are grandfathering those that are…”

“I have no objection to those smaller airports converting to that system. But we are grandfathering those that are presently FAA controlled to continue in that vein to make sure that the system is intact, and that the integrity of the functioning is as planned. If there is a point in time at some future date when we want to look at this, I am more than willing to discuss it. But I want to know exactly what the implications are to the total system, and not simply look at this as a financial gain because in the long run, the financial gains are ephemeral. We saw it in the British experience. We saw it in the Canadian experience. The Senator from Arizona talked about how nobly the controllers from Canada performed on 9/11. Yes, we give them credit for that. But still in all, their system falls into higher costs all the time, and it is in financial despair, if I can use the terminology.”