A COMMON PROPERTY PROBLEM. Collective ownership of the air corridors and the airports means a tragedy of the commons, in which no stakeholder is able to claim sufficient ownership of the problem to be able to solve the problem.

The airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration blame the delays on outdated air traffic control technology, bad weather and increasing passenger traffic. Analysts say commercial airlines' use of smaller planes is partly to blame for increased congestion in the skies and on runways, as is an increase in general aviation aircraft used by corporate travelers.

These problems exist because each stakeholder sees the solution as one somebody else ought to pay for.

[Transportation Secretary Mary] Peters asked airlines to form a plan to improve scheduling at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, one of the nation's busiest. Without an industry solution, the department is prepared to issue a scheduling reduction order, she said.

The government also could force a so-called congestion pricing model upon the industry, Peters said, but airline executives last week told Congress that raising flying costs during peak periods would simply result in higher fares.

The final sentence does not have to follow from the antecedents. Consider the bilevel Commuter Streamliners in Chicago. These came into being because the Burlington wanted to add seats to its commuter trains without having to pay additional terminal charges, which at Chicago Union Station were by the car, let alone sponsor a lengthening of the platforms. Perhaps the airlines might offer fewer peak-hour flights with larger planes and no effect on individual fares.

The airlines and the FAA are pressing for a new, satellite-based air traffic control system that will cost about $15 billion and take nearly 20 years to complete. Airline traffic is projected to double by 2025.

The FAA in late August awarded ITT Corp. a contract worth up to $1.8 billion to build the first portion the system, known as NextGen. The agency on Tuesday said it wants all planes to be equipped to use the new navigation technology by 2020.

"NextGen is pie in the sky. What about Now-Gen?" Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, quipped Tuesday in a conference call with reporters.

The union says delays will worsen unless the government hires more members and pays them better. The FAA and the union have been locked in a contract dispute since the agency declared an impasse last year.

Why does it not come as a surprise that the manufacturers of navigation technology become adversaries of the air traffic controllers in vying for federal dollars? Might a different set of institutional arrangements turn technology vendors, controllers, and airlines into partners looking for more effective ways to serve passengers? The current institutional arrangements bring to mind that Bastiat quip about using the state to live at the expense of others.

Commercial airlines are battling corporate jets and small plane operators over what share of the cost they each should shoulder.

The commercial airline industry and the White House say a House-passed FAA funding bill does not fairly link fees to system use.

Put simply, the commercial carriers, the corporate carriers, and the hobbyists would each like somebody else to pick up the tab. Years ago, the Washington Monthly pointed out that none of these constituencies were exactly poor, although their editors didn't see fit to call for privatization of the air traffic control system at the time, something that strikes me as manageable. The use of public moneys to operate airports and air traffic control systems for the benefit of commercial airline passengers, corporate carriers, and hobbyists strikes me as taxing everyone to provide benefits for people who are relatively well off already.