Over 90% Of 313 US Air Traffic Control Facilities Are Understaffed: Report

Days after a passenger jet and military helicopter collided in Washington DC, killing all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, a new report has revealed that air traffic facilities in the US are reeling under severe staff shortages.

Over 90 per cent of the United States' 313 air traffic control facilities are operating below the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) recommended staffing levels, The New York Times has reported.

As of January, 285 facilities, including traffic control towers and other locations, were below staffing thresholds set by the FAA and the controllers' union. Staffing at 73 of these facilities is so low that at least a quarter of the workforce is absent.

According to a CBS News report, the matter came under scrutiny after an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk Army chopper collided near Reagan National Airport. At the time of the incident, only one air traffic control worker was managing the helicopters and some planes from the Reagan National Airport tower, a task that usually requires two individuals.

The US air travel system remains one of the safest in the world, but the ongoing staff shortages and underinvestment in safety measures have resulted in an alarming number of close calls.

The shortfall is particularly significant in the New York area, where two critical facilities on Long Island operate with approximately 40% of the posts unfilled. These facilities manage air traffic for some of the busiest airports in the US which include Newark, JFK and LaGuardia, which handled 1.2 million flights last year, as per the data from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration projections, efforts to hire and train more controllers have already begun but are expected to fall short of staffing demands. Despite extensive training, around three-quarters of facilities will stay below recommended staffing levels.

Improving the ranks will take time as training a new air traffic controller can take over four years at certain facilities and nearly 16 months at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, The New York Times further mentioned.

About 2 per cent of the towers fulfilled the Collaborative Resource Working Group's 2024 staffing targets for fully trained air traffic controllers, according to CBS News. According to the analysis of 2023 staffing data for nearly 200 airport towers, around 8 per cent met the objective, even after accounting for hundreds of air traffic controllers still in training.