But Final Staffing Levels Won't Be Known Until 2008

In its Performance and Accountability Report to the Department of Transportation's for fiscal year (FY) 2006, the FAA said it had managed "moderate" progress in addressing the expected surge in air traffic controller attrition. The Office of Inspector General agrees with that lukewarm self-critique -- and notes the agency is still one year away from completing its assessment of where controllers are needed most.

"During our audit, we found that FAA has made significant improvements by centralizing its hiring process and has made progress in reducing the time and costs to train new controllers, primarily through greater use of simulator training at the FAA Training Academy and implementation of a new national database to track OJT statistics," the OIG states in report released earlier this month. "However, further progress is needed in several key areas."

The OIG states the FAA is still in the process of developing accurate facility level staffing standards, which are a foremost necessity in effectively placing newly hired controllers where they will be most needed. Planning by location is critical because FAA has over 300 terminal and en route air traffic control facilities with significant differences in the types of users they serve, the complexity of airspace they manage, and the levels of air traffic they handle. Without accurate facility level planning, FAA runs the risk of placing too many or too few controllers at key locations.

"Various groups have repeatedly expressed concerns that some FAA air traffic facilities are either under- or over-staffed and that replacing retiring controllers one-for-one at each location would simply perpetuate existing staffing imbalances," the OIG states. "FAA is aware of this concern and is in the process of validating its staffing standard models based on data derived at the sector and position levels in order to develop accurate staffing ranges for all of its facilities (this process is being conducted by FAA's contractor, MITRE Corp.).

"FAA expects to complete this assessment for its 21 en route centers (its largest facilities) in early 2007. However, estimated completion for the entire project is not until the end of 2008."

In the full 44-page report, available for download at the FMI link below, the OIG admonishes the FAA to ensure that timetable is met. "Given the goal of increasing controller productivity, the lengthy training time, and significant expenditures that will be required to hire and train new controllers over the next 10 years, FAA needs to ensure this project remains on track."

In 2004, the FAA released "A Plan for the Future: The Federal Aviation Administration's 10-Year Strategy for the Air Traffic Controller Workforce, "detailed FAA's strategy for hiring approximately 12,500 new controllers to replace those expected to leave over the next 10 years. The 2004 Plan also outlined various initiatives for increasing controller productivity and for decreasing on-the-job training (OJT) time and costs.

FAA issued the first installment of the mandated annual update to the Controller Workforce Plan on August 24, 2006 (the 2006 Update). The 2006 Update revised controller retirement projections and staffing requirements based on actual results and changes in air traffic forecasts since 2004. The 2006 Update also projected hiring approximately 11,850 controllers over the next 10 years. Additionally, FAA revised its retirement projection methodology from the 2004 Plan.

FMI: Download the full report (.pdf)