Tag Archives for air traffic control.
On May 6, air traffic control cleared American Airlines flight 2473 to take off for Dallas. Then – immediately after – the same air traffic controller cleared Frontier 1734 from Denver to cross the same runway to head towards its gate.
The FAA’s air traffic controller shortage, particularly acute in New York due to inadequate staffing incentives and high rejection rates of new controllers, has led to flight delays, reduced schedules, and higher airfares, with recent political and logistical efforts to address the crisis facing resistance – from Senator Chuck Schumer.
French air traffic controllers have won the right to show up for work three hours late and knock off work three hours early; a raise of more than $19,000; 18 more days off each year; and retirement pensions at age 59.
A lot of European concern over the environment is virtue signaling that winds up counterproductive, or just cheap talk. At least France uses nuclear power!
Any criticisms of the aviation industry in Europe are unserious though because European aviation is more carbon intensive than U.S. aviation as a result of European government policies.
Swiss flight 17 from New York JFK to Zurich was given clearance to take off on runway 4L – as four aircraft crossed right in front of it. This wasn’t one plane crossing in front of the other. It wasn’t one plane being cleared to land on top of the other. This was five planes being put in harms way by controller error.
Persistent air traffic controller shortages in New York are addressed through the FAA’s strategic relocation of Newark’s air traffic control to Philadelphia, aiming to mitigate delays and congestion despite previous political opposition and ongoing staffing challenges.
The FAA had gone to off-the-street hiring to meet diversity goals but the problem was there weren’t enough training slots, and qualified controllers were being passed over when we need controllers. Whitaker’s approach lets the agency train controllers from a variety of backgrounds without sacrificing onboarding those that have gone through training privately already.
But what if New York TRACON refuses all new controllers to keep their overtime hours up?
An American Airlines pilot operating flight 1479 from El Paso to Phoenix exhibited grumpy and passive-aggressive behavior, failing to correctly read back ATC instructions and engaging in a contentious exchange with controllers over communication issues.
The FAA’s move towards diversity-oriented hiring practices for air traffic controllers raises concerns over industry impact, although it doesn’t appear to compromise safety.
The federal government keeps kicking the air traffic control crisis in New York down the road. About three quarters of all airspace delays track to the New York metro area, according to the FAA. And this has knock-on effects as delays of planes flying out of New York wind up causing downline delays elsewhere in the country. So far all the government has been able to do is encourage airlines to fly less, rather than fixing the problem. The government hands out the right to takeoff and land at congested airports (“slots”) to incumbent airlines. These are treated as property rights (given free, so subsidies) that block competitors from entering the market. Since there’s a severe shortfall in air traffic controllers in the New York area, the government has waived the normal requirement that airlines…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
