Federal Aviation Administration warns staffing shortage for summer travel

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a warning that a shortfall of air traffic controllers at a New York site may have an impact on summer travel in United States.

To explore ways to minimise delays, the FAA met with industry groups, including airlines and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working to reduce the backlog in air traffic controller training at its facilities but says that staffing levels at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (N90) are still below targets. While Certified Professional Controller staffing is at around 80% nationally, N90 staffing is at about 54% of its goal.

The N90 provides air traffic control services for the Northeast corridor and the airports of John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty.

 The FAA has said that temporary safety mitigations introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic impacted controller training, but that dedicated training initiatives have been successful in reducing most of the backlog with the exception of N90.

The warning comes after a difficult summer travel season in 2022, which saw over 45,000 flights canceled and almost a quarter of all trips delayed for at least 15 minutes. The FAA expects a 45% increase in delays in the region this summer.

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