The head of the Department of Transportation may visit Canada in the coming weeks to examine the country’s privatized air traffic control system, according to Marc Garneau, Canada’s minister of transport.
Canada’s air traffic control operations are run by a nonprofit corporation instead of the government, a setup that has been championed by the U.S. airline industry and some Republican members in Congress.
A trip by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to see Canada’s aviation system could signal that the Trump administration is serious about exploring whether to support setting up a similar model in the U.S.
President Trump has vowed to modernize U.S. airports, but has yet to take a public stance on whether he wants to see air traffic control peeled off from the federal government.