Union presses lawmakers to fix air traffic controller shortfall

The union that represents air traffic controllers pressed lawmakers on Tuesday to fix an “unacceptable” shortfall in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) hiring they say is negatively affecting the nation’s flight navigation system. 

“Air traffic controller staffing has been a concern for many years, but it has now reached a crisis level,” National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Paul Rinaldi said during a roundtable discussion on Tuesday about the FAA’s air traffic controller staffing and training plans that was hosted by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. 

“I’ve said it repeatedly over the past few years: the status quo is unacceptable,” Rinaldi continued. “Controller staffing has fallen nearly 10 percent since 2011, and the FAA has missed its hiring goals in each of the last five years. 

{mosads}”With one third of our workforce eligible to retire, the FAA’s bureaucratic structure is failing us,” the air traffic controller union chief concluded. “In fiscal year 2015, the FAA fell 24 percent below its staffing goals. If this situation continues unaddressed, we will be hard-pressed to maintain current capacity, let alone expand and modernize the system.” 

The comments came during a hearing designed to signal a shift in focus from lawmakers from a recently-completed highway funding debate to a measure that would reauthorize the FAA’s federal funding, which is currently set to expire in March 2016. 

The measure is expected to contain a controversial proposal to privatize some functions of the nation’s flight navigation system, which has riled the air traffic controller union.  

Rinaldi said Tuesday that lawmakers should fix the FAA’s air traffic controller shortfall before they try to make major changes to the nation’s flight navigation system. 

“NATCA believes the FAA must take a holistic, collaborative approach to resolve these staffing issues,” he said. 

“Many of our current staffing woes were avoidable,” Rinaldi continued. “For example, in the FAA’s most recent experienced controller vacancy announcement, Human Resources (HR) disqualified former FAA controllers who did not attach what HR deemed to be the ‘correct’ personnel form to their applications. However, these former employees did attach an official form proving they had previously worked as FAA air traffic controllers. HR issues these forms and they could have easily substituted the correct forms. Instead, they disqualified previously certified controllers.” 

The bill that authorizes the FAA’s federal funding was originally set to expire in September. 

Lawmakers bought themselves some more time to deal with the issue of aviation funding during the recently-completed highway bill debate when they passed a six-month extension of the FAA bill, which had been set to expire on Sept. 30. 

Three months of the extra time was diverted to finishing work on the multiyear highway bill, however, and now lawmakers are scrambling to get back up to speed on aviation funding. 

Airline groups have embraced plans from GOP leaders in the House to move to a partially-private air traffic control (ATC) system. 

“We strongly encourage congressional leaders to reform and modernize our ATC system, thus restoring our place as a leader in aviation technology, making air travel more efficient for all of our passengers and maintaining our world-class safety record,” A4A said in a recent blog post on its website. 

“We think the best way to modernize the system is to create a federally chartered, non-profit organization to oversee ATC operations, while allowing the FAA to continue working to ensure the U.S. has the safest skies in the world,” the airline group continued. 

Rinaldi defended the current federal air traffic controllers, however, saying many of the nation’s flight navigations could be fixed if lawmakers address the FAA’s employee shortfall. 

“Our controllers are dedicated, highly skilled professionals forced to shoulder the burden of chronically understaffed facilities,” Rinadli said. “No one wants interruptions to service, delays, and decreased capacity, least of all our controllers who not only work traffic but also participate in the NextGen initiatives that keep our system competitive.”

“In order for controllers to continue providing the type of service the American flying public deserves and has come to expect, we must ensure that hiring, training, and placement processes meet the needs of the mission and aren’t subordinate to bureaucratic red tape and arbitrary rules,” he continued.