WASHINGTON - The US aviation sector on Wednesday called for "robust emergency funding" from Congress for air traffic control technology and staffing after a series of crashes that have raised alarm.
Airlines for America, the Aerospace Industries Association, International Air Transport Association and others including major aviation unions urged Congress in a joint letter on Wednesday to take action, noting the Federal Aviation Administration faces serious technology needs and is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels.
"We must support air traffic controller workforce hiring and training, modernize and deploy state-of-the-art air traffic control facilities and equipment," said the letter seen by Reuters from groups representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Boeing, Airbus, and others adding they do not support "pursuing privatization of US air traffic control services and believe it would be a distraction from these needed investments and reforms."
USDOT, FAA and key House and Senate committees did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
A persistent shortage of controllers has delayed flights and, at many facilities, controllers are working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks to cover shifts.
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Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he is reconsidering rules that allowed air traffic control supervisors to reduce staffing at Washington's Reagan National Airport before a fatal Army helicopter-plane collision that killed 67 people in January.
The FAA last year cut minimum flight requirements at congested New York City-area airports through October, citing air traffic controller staffing shortages.
In March, then-President Joe Biden proposed spending $8 billion over the next five years to replace or modernize more than 20 aging air traffic control facilities and 377 critical radar systems.
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A quarter of all FAA facilities are 50 years or older. A 2023 report noted air traffic control facilities with leaking roofs, broken heating and air conditioning systems, and old surveillance radar systems that must soon be replaced at a cost of billions of dollars.
The report said the FAA's communications system has been outdated for years and the agency can no longer get spare parts for many systems.
An outage of a pilot alerting system in January 2023 led to the first nationwide US ground stop since 2001, disrupting more than 11,000 flights. The system suffered a brief outage earlier this month but without significant impacts.
