Warning that air traffic controller staffing is at a crisis point, the union representing most U.S. controllers called on Congress this week to hold a hearing on the “chronic understaffing” of ATC facilities managed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The facilities serving some of the nation’s busiest airspace sections are among the understaffed operations, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (Natca).
“I want to be clear: The safety of the air traffic control system is not at risk,” said Natca president Paul Rinaldi. “But maintaining safety is coming at the cost of efficiency and modernization. We have far too few controllers in our towers and radar rooms.”
The number of controllers the FAA employs has declined by 8.7 percent since 2011, from 15,236 to 13,906, according to Natca figures. This year there are 10,859 certified professional controllers (CPCs)—the most proficient job status—which is the lowest level in 27 years, the union said. Thirty percent, or 3,355, of CPCs are eligible to retire “at any time,” with only 1,203 CPCs in training and 1,844 developmental controllers in line to replace them if they complete the training regimen. Twenty-five percent of trainees do not complete the training and certify.
At facilities the FAA considers inadequately staffed, the agency requires controllers to work six-day weeks by using overtime pay, Natca said. These include terminal radar approach control facilities serving airports in metropolitan Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and New York.
For the fifth consecutive year, the FAA in Fiscal Year 2015 missed its controller hiring goal, Natca said. As of August 22, roughly a month before the federal fiscal year ended, the agency had hired 1,178 of a planned 1,772 new controllers.
If the staffing situation is not addressed, Natca warns, the nation could see flight delays similar to those it experienced in April 2013 when controllers were furloughed due to “sequestration” budget cuts. Over seven days of furloughs, there were 12,760 flight delays, more than three times the 3,860 delays during the same period in 2014, according to Natca.
“We have been working with the FAA to address this mutual concern for several years now. However, the situation now warrants legislator and industry scrutiny,” said Trish Gilbert, the union’s executive vice president. “Maintaining safety is our top priority, but without proper staffing at our facilities, efficiency and modernization efforts could be negatively impacted. The staffing crisis is a systemic problem and deteriorating daily.”
Natca is calling on Congress to take action, but Congress is also complicit in the staffing shortage. The federal government shutdown and budget cuts in 2013 caused the FAA to close its ATC training academy in Oklahoma City for nine months, delaying initial training for several classes of controllers, the agency noted in a response to the Natca announcement.
“The FAA shares Natca’s frustration with air traffic controller staffing levels,” the agency said. “The FAA has conducted several rounds of air traffic controller hiring over the past two years in an effort to continue to feed enough controllers into the training pipeline to meet the agency’s expected staffing needs. The agency is planning additional job announcements in the future to recruit new controllers to meet ongoing staffing needs.”
As of October 14 the House aviation subcommittee had not scheduled a hearing on controller staffing. “But this is an issue the Committee has followed and we will continue to look into the matter,” the subcommittee told AIN. “The safety of the aviation system is always our top priority, and we need to maintain the highest level of safety while we ensure the efficiency of the system.”
