US airlines want Trump to block Mid-east rivals, privatise air traffic control

Dallas

DONALD Trump, a hotelier and former airline executive, has said plenty about immigrants, borders, and free trade. But he hasn't said much about the multi-billion-dollar US aviation industry. This huge segment of the American economy has some priorities and complaints that have gone essentially nowhere during the Obama administration, due in part to political gridlock.

With Republicans running both Houses of Congress and the White House next year, airlines are now ready to push their case on several issues they hold dear. Most aviation specialists say it's hard to gauge how the Trump administration might respond, given that it doesn't owe the industry any favours.

"This is probably not the kind of pro-business Republican administration you might expect," said Seth Kaplan, managing partner at Airline Weekly, an industry journal, as Mr Trump isn't tied firmly to a particular ideology and "doesn't really have any core beliefs. He's said certain things in the campaign that he had to, to bring himself in line with the Republican Party a little bit, but it's not like there's a…