The air above our state is an invaluable commodity — thousands of times per day, aircraft carrying cargo and travelers transit the North Carolina skies.

As the country continues to rebound in air travel following the pandemic, some regions are struggling to keep up with the resurgence in travel demand, which is having a troubling spillover effect. Most notably in Florida, numerous users are vying for their own piece of airspace, leading to congested routes, delays and flight cancellations.

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What’s shocking is that this issue has persisted for months, and little has been done to fix the underlying issues. While more and more aircraft crowd into limited routes and slots, it can set off a wave of delays for commercial airlines, pushing back carefully timed schedules. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg even highlighted this issue in a recent letter, noting: “the FAA expects a significant volume increase in Florida this winter,” after the summer saw countless stressful tourists waiting with the hope that their flight was not delayed or canceled outright.

One of the chief factors contributing to overcrowded airspace is that flights accounting for the vast majority of travelers are not prioritized when contending for routes. There is no reason that a private jet carrying a few passengers is allowed to claim airspace over a commercial airliner carrying hundreds of people to the…