(The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.)

By Richard Beales and Gina Chon

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Donald Trump's latest infrastructure announcement comes with unaccustomed detail. The president's 2,000-odd words urging the reconfiguration of the U.S. air-traffic control system put April's short-form tax proposals to shame. It's also a sensible solution to an enduring problem. Even so it's no easy win, underlining the challenge for vaguer policies to come.

A lot of America's air-traffic technology is obsolete, worsening congestion and delays. Existing operations and upgrades – managed by the Federal Aviation Administration – are paid for by a hodgepodge of tax allocations and levies. Plenty of developed countries have carved out ATC operations and streamlined funding, allowing them to manage themselves and borrow under their own steam.

Back in 1996 Canada put its air-traffic operations into a non-profit corporation called Nav Canada, governed by a board representing a variety of stakeholders like airlines, unions and the government. That example explains much of the detail Trump's team is putting forward. The proposal also builds on a bill introduced in Congress last year by Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

A non-profit model would cut out the need for taxpayer funding and clarify responsibility for U.S. air traffic. It would free up the new company to raise debt for investment in needed new technology. It would also avoid a common political worry in infrastructure privatizations – the risk of handing for-profit owners a windfall.

This is all logical, and the status quo is unacceptable to almost everyone. But that doesn't mean it will happen. Trump's plan reduces the number of airline representatives on the proposed non-profit's board from what Shuster suggested to alleviate worries that they might become too powerful – but the carriers may resist that.

Democratic lawmakers say they are worried about aircraft safety as well as about protecting staff who would no longer be federal employees. Meanwhile, rural airports and non-commercial flight operators fear reduced access and higher costs. There are reasons why nothing has been done yet in the United States despite discussions dating back at least as far as Canada's move to the non-profit structure.

Trump is planning other infrastructure announcements this week. Most are likely to be far less well defined. That may have superficial appeal, but without detail they will neither secure unequivocal backing nor flush out opposition. If even air-traffic can't get off the ground, other ideas may get no further than the gate.

CONTEXT NEWS

- President Donald Trump on June 5 outlined a plan to privatize the U.S. air-traffic control system, urging the U.S. Congress to separate it from the Federal Aviation Administration. He proposes putting the ATC functions of the FAA into a non-profit corporation, following the model implemented two decades ago in Canada.

- Trump's announcement is part of a week-long push to publicize his plans to overhaul America's aging infrastructure.

- The proposal to privatize flight control faces major hurdles in Congress where Democrats and some Republicans oppose it. Trump has frequently said that current efforts to modernize the system were already obsolete.

- The administration's overview commends as "a good foundation for reforming the ATC system" a bill introduced in 2016 by Congressman Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. That proposal is modeled on the structure in Canada, which privatized its air-traffic system in 1996. Shuster is working on an updated bill for this congressional session.

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(Editing by Antony Currie and Kate Duguid)

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