Consolidation emerges as talking point for FAA and airlines
Both in stated intention and current action, the Federal Aviation Administration — with cheerleading assistance from its Management Advisory Council, the airlines’ trade association and even at least one lawmaker in Congress — is moving forward on the issue of consolidating air traffic control facilities. The process has started in places like northwest Louisiana, but if the FAA has its way, the number of en route centers and TRACONs around the country will decrease substantially.
Earlier this summer, Jim May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association, told the Wings Club of New York, “Today’s communication technology eliminates the need for 21 en route centers and 197 TRACONs.” Equally flippant, ATA representative John Meehan opined in June at a Washington, D.C., conference hosted by the Air Traffic Control Association that the system needs only three centers.
NATCA President John Carr was highly critical of the airlines’ move to make policy recommendations for air traffic control. When Carr — who sat on the same ATCA panel as Meehan — asked where he came up with the magic number of three, Meehan replied that it made “common sense.”
“Well,” said Carr, “as long as we’re throwing out ‘common sense’ ideas, I’ve got one of my own: How about we consolidate all the failing airlines down to three?”
“If it sounds strange to you that Mr. May, the chief lobbyist for the principle U.S. airlines, presumes to know enough about the intricacies of the U.S. air traffic control system to offer any kind of so-called solution to the problems of congestion, that makes two of us,” Carr remarked. “He has neither the research nor the credentials to back it up.”
NATCA Director of Safety and Technology Doug Fralick said consolidation of air traffic control facilities is a foolish and shortsighted idea because it would eliminate the key redundancies built into the system which ensures the maximum possible safety margin. When a radar or communications failure hits a large center, several facilities that control neighboring airspace are available to assume the workload. “If such a failure wiped out one of only three centers, that’s a shutdown of one-third of the country’s air traffic and a negative impact on the other two-thirds,” Fralick commented.
So why would the airlines decide to bring their business acumen into air traffic control? The answer is simple: Politics. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey says the current funding system is broken and advocates user fees and a disassembling of the ATC system. “She is shopping for allies,” Carr said, “and she has found an easy mark in the airlines. They foolishly believe if they shill for the administrator she will create a new system that reduces their tax and regulatory burden. They actually think reducing staff, infrastructure and facilities will increase capacity and relieve congestion. They are terribly wrong.”
There is evidence the FAA is currently moving ahead with some consolidation plans on a local level. NATCA Southwest Regional Vice President Darrell Meachum says the agency wants to consolidate the radar rooms at Monroe, La., Tower, Shreveport, La., Tower and nearby Longview, Texas Tower into one facility, leaving the respective tower operations “extremely vulnerable to possible contracting out.”
“I’m sure the FAA will shrug off any of our concerns about privatization, but the handwriting is on the wall,” Meachum said. “Consolidation would reduce these towers down to a possible ATC-5 level. That puts them on a contracting ‘hit list.’ ”
Says Monroe Tower Facility Representative Chris Walden: “I believe if this consolidation were to happen, Monroe and Longview would be contracted out. That means leaving an airport with a facility that has only one set of eyes watching the skies. I worked in a contract tower and I know how they do business. I personally would not feel very safe flying into a place that has a controller working that has had no breaks for many hours.”
