Focus Is On Training And Retaining More Controllers

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said recently that he is not considering privatizing the FAA or its air traffic control system, despite President Donald Trump having suggested it during his first term.

Duffy said in a media appearance, “I could spend my time the next three and a half years fighting over privatization. I’m not going to do that. What I’m going to do is put every resource into training up more air traffic controllers to get them certified in their airspace in which they’re going to work, but also getting those experienced controllers to stay on the job, paying them a little more to not retire and continue to work for us.”

Duffy noted that some in the aviation industry as well as lawmakers had previously been pushing the idea in 2018 after Trump made the suggestion because he thought the ATC system was “stuck painfully in the past.”

The topic was revived again in the early part of this year after the January mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., along with a series of near-misses around the country.

In light of the fact that some have blamed the issue on understaffing and burn-out, Duffy has made a priority of recruiting new controllers in addition to a newly-energized focus on investment in revamping the entire air traffic system with Congressionally-approved funding.

While blaming the Biden administration for allegedly permitting controllers to be approved at “lower” standards, Duffy said, “We want the best and the brightest to be our air traffic controllers. What we’ve done is said, ‘Listen, if you’re 90-100 percent, you’re best qualified. If you’re 80-89 percent, you are well qualified. We have a 35 percent washout rate at the academy. So I’m in the business of getting the best minds, the best people, the best scores in the academy first.”

FMI:  www.faa.gov/