A federal report detailing safety concerns with the nation’s air traffic control system is turning up the heat on lawmakers to pass the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, with a short window after the Thanksgiving recess to get it done or temporarily extend the agency’s authority.
An independent review commissioned by the FAA in response to a number of near-miss incidents found the system is understaffed, old and inadequately funded, causing an “erosion in the margin of safety.”
“Together, these challenges contribute to increased safety risk and should be regarded as incident precursors,” the panel concluded. “[T]he FAA continues to be asked to do more with less in an already strained system, and the series of serious incidents in early 2023 illuminate significant challenges to the provision and safety oversight of air traffic services.”
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said Monday he is taking actions to implement the report’s recommendations, including increasing hiring rates and deploying high resolution tower simulators at facilities across the country.
The air traffic control system’s woes are in part fueled by gridlock on funding alongside a tendency to act slowly on reauthorization.
“This stop-and-start process in Congress has resulted in the disruption of critical activities, notably including the hiring and training of air traffic controllers,” said the review, conducted by a team of six officials including former FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and former NASA head Charles Bolden. “It has also slowed down the implementation of key technology modernization programs, delayed thousands of flights, and held up billions of dollars of airport infrastructure investments.”
Between 2007 and 2012, Congress passed 23 short-term extensions of FAA’s authorizing legislation, and in one instance in 2011 there was a two-week lapse. The 2013 budget sequestration resulted in furloughs of FAA staff, including air traffic controllers and technicians, in which employees did not receive compensation.
Congress enacted six short-term extensions before the most recent reauthorization passed, while in late 2018 a partial government shutdown meant air traffic controllers worked 35 days without a paycheck, although they were compensated later.
Congress averted a government shutdown last week with a stopgap measure that extends current funding for the FAA until Jan. 19.
Lawmakers now have until Dec. 31 to reauthorize the agency, but there are several crucial steps in the three remaining weeks of the 2023 session before that can happen: The Senate must agree on pilot training language, mark up its bill, pass it on the floor, and reconcile differences with the House version, which passed 351-69 on July 20. Both chambers then must pass the final version. If not, another extension looms.