Dave Bohrer / The Meridian StarBoardings have increased about 20 percent at Meridian Regional Airport.

While some rural airport administrators may worry about the privatization of air traffic control, Tom Williams, the president of the Regional Meridian Airport Authority, isn’t concerned. 

“Here, we’re all operated by the military,” Williams said. “But it would affect the Memphis Center, which surrounds it.”

The Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center, or Memphis Center for short, oversees aircraft in parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, covering approximately 120,000 square miles, according to the FAA.

On a smaller, local scale, the Navy operates a 50-mile radius of “approach control” for the airport and surrounding areas. Even smaller, the Air National Guard operates a 5-mile radius from the airport’s air traffic control tower, according to Williams.

Williams said that neither the approach control nor the air traffic control tower would be privatized but that the Memphis Center could be privatized. 

“There are examples in the United States where air traffic control (at small airports) has already been privatized,” Williams said. “They saved about 50 percent on the cost of operating those towers and the safety ratings even slightly improved.”