(More details on the waiver) by David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Citing air traffic controller staffing concerns, U.S. regulators said on Friday they would again extend reductions in minimum flight requirements at congested airports until October 2024. New York area, providing relief to airlines that have faced delays due to government staffing issues.
Under minimum flight requirements, airlines can lose their takeoff and landing slots at congested airports if they don’t use them at least 80% of the time. The waiver allows airlines not to operate certain flights while retaining their slots.
The FAA said the number of certified controllers at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control Center (N90) “is still not sufficient to allow the FAA to manage normal traffic levels.”
The FAA said it continues to work “on a long-term solution to address the chronic low number of air traffic controllers certified at N90”
Airlines for America, an industry group, said it appreciated “this latest waiver extension as the FAA faces a shortage of air traffic controllers….” US airlines will continue to use larger planes to reduce pressure
U.S. airlines expressed growing frustration Tuesday over a shortage of air traffic controllers, which has caused flight bottlenecks.
Due to staffing shortages, the FAA in August already extended temporary reductions in minimum flight requirements at congested New York area airports and Washington National Airport until October 28, after granting those waivers for the first time in March after Delta Air Lines DAL.N and United Airlines UAL. requested authorization not to carry out up to 10% of flights.
“The system cannot cope with the number of flights today,” Robin Hayes, chief executive of JetBlue Airways JBLU.O , told Reuters on Tuesday. According to him, airlines received a first exemption for March flights “quite late…”. We must take the lead.”
Airlines have faced flight problems after a record summer season in the United States and have voluntarily reduced flights due to the shortage of air traffic. They want to increase the number of flights to meet demand.
In August, the FAA said it had met its annual hiring goal of 1,500 controllers, but was still about 3,000 controllers behind its staffing goals.
In June, a government watchdog said critical ATC facilities were facing significant staffing challenges, posing risks to air traffic operations.
During the summer of 2022, 41,498 flights departing from New York airports were delayed due to ATC staff shortages. According to the report, the N90 occupancy rate was only 54%.
The United States has experienced several near-miss aviation incidents this year, some of which could have been catastrophic due to apparent errors by controllers.
The FAA has 10,700 certified controllers, which is a slight increase from the 10,578 certified controllers in 2022, near stability from 2021 and a 10% decrease from 2012. At several installations, controllers perform mandatory overtime and six-day work weeks to deal with the shortage.
2023-09-15 22:13:14
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