House panel to probe air traffic controller staffing

Lawmakers in the House are planning to probe the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) air traffic controller staffing procedures on Tuesday. 

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are scheduled to hold a roundtable discussion on Tuesday about the FAA’s air traffic controller staffing and training plans. 

The hearing comes as lawmakers are beginning consideration of a bill to 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 air traffic controller unions.  

{mosads}Officials with the panel said “the roundtable will include discussion of controller hiring and staffing updates since the release of the FAA’s 2015 Controller Workforce Plan, controller staffing levels at critical air traffic control facilities, the impact of previous and future planned changes to FAA’s controller hiring process, the adequacy of controller training programs, and future staffing plans.” 

The panel is scheduled to hear testimony from officials with the FAA, Department of Transportation and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. 

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

Lawmakers brought 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,” Airlines for America (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. 

Air traffic controller groups, meanwhile, have encouraged Congress to focus on stabilizing the FAA’s funding and addressing a shortfall in the agency’s air traffic controller hiring. 

“I want to be clear: The safety of the air traffic control system is not at risk. But maintaining safety is coming at the cost of efficiency and modernization,” National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Paul Rinaldi said in a recent statement. 

“We have far too few controllers in our towers and radars rooms. If left unaddressed, the situation could result in delays similar to those the country experienced in April 2013, when air traffic controllers were furloughed due to the mandatory budget cuts,” he continued. “Bureaucratic inertia is slowing the hiring process, and at the worst possible time. The number of fully certified air traffic controllers is at the lowest level in 27 years.”

The air traffic controllers union has been suspicious of previous efforts to privatize parts of the nation’s air traffic control system, arguing that partially private systems that are in effect in places such as Canada may not be transferrable to the U.S. 

The FAA has been at the center of budget battles in Washington before. The agency’s last funding measure, in 2012, was passed following a string of more than 20 temporary extensions that resulted in a partial shutdown of the agency in 2011. 

The FAA’s funding was also cut in the 2013 sequester, resulting in air traffic controller furloughs and flight delays, before Congress passed a quick fix to restore the spending. 

Airline groups are hoping to avoid a repeat of those earlier standoffs in the upcoming FAA battle that will take shape in the beginning of next year. 

“Now is the time to restore our nation’s global leadership role in air traffic control (ATC) technology and innovation,” A4A said in a statement as lawmakers were finishing up work on the highway bill. 

“We have the safest aviation system in the world, but it must also be the most modern and efficient,” the airline group concluded.