NATCA, FAA Take Fight To The House Of Mouse

Airline delays are aggravating, they cost businesses and their customers money, but they are good for one thing -- giving the controllers union even more ammo in its ongoing fight against the FAA.

The Orlando (FL) Business Journal reports Department of Transportation numbers show for the first 10 months of 2007, about 24 percent of flights arriving at Orlando International Airport were late -- up from less than 20 percent in 2006.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says that's because the number of controllers at the facility is down to 39 -- way below the 69 certified controllers even the FAA says are needed there, according to the union.

"It all comes down to staffing -- without enough controllers, the delays will pile up," said NATCA spokeswoman Alex Caldwell. "Until the staffing improves, the delays won't go away, no matter what quick fixes are put in place."

The FAA says staffing has nothing to do with it. Agency spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen calls the DOT numbers are "grossly inflated," and that any increase in delays is caused by weather.

The paper notes that flights taking off and arriving at Orlando have increased by 7,500 during that same period... and postulates airlines could simply be scheduling too many flights.

On the blame game being played by all three sides, however, San Francisco-based aviation analyst Henry Harteveldt tells the paper, "There is no single group responsible and no group that's guilt-free. Without adequate runways and controllers, there are certainly going to be delays."

And that's hardly a Mickey Mouse argument.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.natca.org, www.orlandoairports.net