"Peak Volumes of Air Traffic can no Longer be Handled Safely"
The union of air traffic controllers in the US has said the staffing level of controllers in a number of busy locations has fallen so low that "peak volumes of air traffic can no longer be handled safely".
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), which represents over 20,000 controllers in the USA, has said the number of controllers on duty in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Southern California has fallen to such a level that there is a "staffing emergency."
President of the NATCA, Patrick Forrey, said: "we have come to a crossroads in these four locations", which are among the busiest and most congested areas of US airspace.
He said the understaffing means that "we cannot safely handle the volume of aircraft into these major areas during the busiest periods of the day."
The union said number of controllers has declined rapidly in recent years due to more veteran controllers taking retirement. It added that by the start of February 2008, over 500 controllers will have retired since last October.
NATCA: Understaffing Increases Safety Concerns
The NATCA says the low staff levels mean an increase in the potential for incidents and accidents in the busy airspace areas. The union believes the situation has been made worse because the number of flights in the busy areas is continually increasing, and that the number of controllers on duty is proportionally lower than the number of flights controllers are tasked to handle.
Forrey said: "They [the controllers] are being asked to handle so much volume with so little rest and with fewer eyes and ears that they are fatigued, and when you are fatigued you make mistakes."
To support its assertion, the NATCA pointed to the recent US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report into runway safety.
As previously reported on Airport International, the GAO report - released in December 2007 - said that 370 "runway incursions" occurred at US airports in the year to September 2007, with 24 of these being classed as "serious" incidents.
The union said the GAO report showed that understaffing of air traffic controllers leads to safety problems.
FAA Refutes Controllers' Claims
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is responsible for managing and training US air traffic controllers, refuted the NATCA's claims.
FAA Chief operating officer Hank Krakowski said "nothing in our data shows any increase of errors where staffing or fatigue have been contributory. We do not believe we are running an unsafe system."
He admitted that "we do have a few facilities where we're tight [on staff numbers]", but said the FAA was working to ease understaffing issues by hiring new controllers. He added that over 3,000 are currently undergoing training.
The NATCA's comments come in the wake of a continuing dispute between themselves and the FAA which began in September 2006 and the FAA suspended contract negotiations with NATCA members, and cut starting pay for new controllers.
Source - Airport International's US Correspondent
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