New Schumer Report Reveals: Airline Delays Worst Ever At Nyc Airports: Air Traffic Controller Staffing Crisis Means Summer 2007 Will Be Even Worse For
New Schumer Report Reveals: Airline Delays Worst Ever At Nyc Airports: Air Traffic Controller Staffing Crisis Means Summer 2007 Will Be Even Worse For Delays
With nearly 21 million people expected to travel over the Memorial Day holiday and experts predicting that June, July and August will be busier than ever, today Senator Schumer revealed that flight delays at the New York metropolitan airports are at their worst due to a dearth in air traffic controllers. With air traffic on the rise, and staffing of control towers at an all time low, due to a flood of aging controllers leaving the workforce and the inability of substandard incentives and work packages to attract new controllers, more flights are delayed now than ever before. Schumer today announced a bill that would bring the controllers union and the FAA back to the table to solve this staffing crisis and ensure that there are enough controllers to monitor the congested New York airspace.
"Going on vacation is supposed to be fun, instead it has become an exercise in saintly patience with the traveling public waiting and waiting and waiting in airports and on the runway," Schumer said. "A failure to negotiate and inability to resolve this problem is causing tremendous delays and endangering airlines passengers. It's long past time for the FAA and the air traffic controllers to get back to the table and hammer out a settlement that leads to staffing sufficient to handle our heavy air traffic."
Today, Schumer released a study containing the latest data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The study revealed that the 3 New York area airports - JFK, LaGuardia and Newark International, with their nearly 100 million travelers passing through - have the worst records in the nation for getting travelers in and out on time. The study also shows that these records have gotten substantially worse since this time last year. Schumer today said that the drop in air traffic controllers has a direct relationship to the increase in delays.
"In other words, as air traffic goes up, the number of controllers go down and flights are delayed time and again," Schumer said.
Flight delays in the New York metropolitan area have ballooned in the past year, with JFK, LaGuardia and Newark falling to the bottom of the list for on-time arrivals and departures. According to the latest figures from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics in the Department of Transportation, delays are surging as airlines approach the busy summer season, when 209 million Americans are expected to take to the sky, a 3% increase over last year.
Delays at all three airports are up over last year, with JFK and LaGuardia posting higher increases every month. Of the three area airports, JFK is trending the worst, with a 140% increase in delays over the same period last year. Newark's delays are up 20% over last year, but the airport has by far the most delays in the area, with 19,022 flights held up in April alone:
Of the 32 airports the Bureau ranked for on-time departures and arrivals, JFK, LaGuardia and Newark are the lowest ranked airports for arrivals in the nation, and are ranked in the lowest six for departures. Conversely, JFK had been the 8th best airport in the nation for on-time departures in 2006:
While delays are obviously on the rise along with air traffic, a 3% dip in traffic at LaGuardia over last year highlights the impact the controller crunch is having on skyrocketing delays. Even with a downturn, there aren't enough air traffic controllers to manage the tremendous flow of traffic through the New York airspace. According to testimony by a Vice President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, given to the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Consumer Protection on May 24, 2007, a dearth of air traffic controllers is adversely affecting the rate of flight delays and passenger safety. There is a severe shortage of air traffic controllers in the nation's air traffic system due to a flood of aging controllers leaving the workforce and the inability of substandard incentives and work packages to attract new controllers.
In 2004, the air-traffic control system was staffed by 15,000 controllers who sufficiently met the demands of the system. Since 2004, the system has lost over 1,000 controllers and added passengers, resulting in controller stress and fatigue due to an inability to meet demand. Over the last three months, the staffing crisis has become so severe that some air traffic control facilities have had to temporarily close due to worker shortages.
Controllers peg the blame on the FAA, which they claim has not sought their input in staffing studies and has only focused on recommended spending output - not what needs have to be met in order to adequately staff facilities across the nation. They claim the FAA has instituted staffing ranges based on current staffing levels - well below what staffing levels should be. For example, the revised staffing range for LaGuardia Tower is 28 to 34 controllers where before it was authorized 36 controllers, while only 26 of the 33 controllers currently working at LaGuardia are fully certified to staff the facility.
Additionally, the FAA claims their controller needs are down 9-26% while air traffic is up system-wide. While traffic has boomed at JFK from a low of 301,160 to a projected high of 450,000-475,000 flights this year, controller staffing levels are down 30%. In 2006 alone, four controllers left JFK, with two set to leave this year and another eight expressing their desire to leave - representing a 40% loss in only two years. The FAA intends to hire three more controllers for JFK this year, but they will not be fully certified until 2009. The controller crunch is clear across all three area airports:
Staffing levels are further stressed by new work rules imposed by the FAA on eleven NATCA collective bargaining units since 2005, and pay rules since 2006 that forced a two-tier pay scale system on controllers. The new work and pay rules, imposed on the controllers without a contract and outside of collective bargaining, have led to sweeping attrition across the system. The remaining employees are subject to mandatory overtime to offset understaffing and denial of sick leave and vacation time, resulting in lowered morale and increased stress and fatigue.
As problems retaining experienced controllers grow, so do those of recruiting new controllers, as those considering entering the system are now faced with a 30% cut in pay, leading those, like experienced military controllers, to turn down jobs lest they take a large salary cut. Since only 50% of recruitments will eventually become fully certified, the need to retain staffing levels, while finding new employees, is critical. Yet, retirements and total attrition are exceeding the FAA's planned recruitment for a fourth straight fiscal year. The trajectory is so bad that it is estimated that by 2010 40% of the nation's controllers will have less than 4 years experience. Not only will there be fewer eyes watching more traffic, but those eyes will be far less experienced than those today.
There exists a direct relationship between staffing and safety, one that becomes even clearer over time as the cumulative effect of long shifts, forced overtime, increased time on position and decreased personal time for family, rest and relaxation take a brutal toll on the mind and the body. This in turn affects reaction times, judgment, focus and alertness. Fewer controllers in a facility means a rise in operational errors and runway incursions and a higher risk of safety problems due to the decreased margin of safety and lack of any room for error.
In an effort to get the FAA and the air traffic controllers back to the table to solve the staffing crisis and ensure that the flying public can get where they are supposed to, on time, Schumer today announced his legislation to initiate binding arbitration between the FAA and labor organizations once contract negotiations reach an impasse. This bill will send the FAA and NATCA back to the table so that the air traffic controllers have a better chance of a fair and equitable labor contract.
Currently, the FAA has been able to impose more mandatory overtime, reduced reimbursements for relocation expenses to be trained as a controller, as well as a smaller per diem during the training period. A new contract, one not merely forced upon NATCA by the FAA, will make the recruitment and retention of controllers more possible so that this crippling shortage can end. The bill would also be retroactive and apply to impasses that have occurred over the last two years.
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