Senators urging Congress to fund slots for more controllers

A bipartisan group of seven US senators have united to urge Congress to authorize $14 million in funding for fiscal year 2005 to allow the FAA to hire more air traffic controllers. The senators, all members of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee responsible for the FAA's budget, have asked the subcommittee's chairman and ranking member, Richard Shelby, R-AL and Patty Murray, D-WA, respectively, to provide the funding due to concerns over projected retirements among the existing controller workforce.

GovExec.Com reported that the subcommittee members have asked that the funding be provided as part of the Fiscal Year 2005 Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill.

The group has expressed its concerns based on the fact that nearly 9,000 controllers hired in the four years after former President Reagan dismissed the striking PATCO controllers are now nearing retirement age. In fact, FAA estimates point to retirement of nearly half the controller workforce over the next nine years or so.

Of particular concern is the fact that it takes quite a long time to train new controllers; from two to four years, according to the GAO. In some cases, the training can take as long as seven years, depending on the tasks that the controller undertakes, and the locations at which they will serve. Last year, the FAA requested $14 million in FY 2004 funds to begin the process of hiring new controllers. The request was denied, and the FAA did not repeat the request for FY 2005.

"The FAA requested zero dollars for this," said Doug Church, media relations manager for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "So we took it upon ourselves to go to Congress and try to get their support. And we did."

In the letter, Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Harry Reid, D-Nev., Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Kit Bond, R-Mo., Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said they are "all too aware of the budget constraints facing this Congress," but they also emphasized that a shortage of controllers could cause major inconveniences for travellers, not to mention possible safety concerns.

Sen. DeWine "sees it as a safety issue," said Amanda Flaig, his spokeswoman. "With [the controllers] retiring at a rate faster than they're being hired... it will put a strain on the existing workforce."  Sen. Shelby believes the FAA must ensure that "the safest air traffic control system in the world" stays that way, said spokeswoman Virginia Davis.

FMI: www.house.gov, www.senate.gov, www.natca.org