According to an analysis of union data, more than 90% of the country’s air traffic control installations operate below the levels of personnel recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to an analysis of the staff of the union representing the controllers obtained by The New York Times.
At the beginning of the month, 285 installations – which include traffic control towers and other places – were below the staff thresholds set by the FAA and the union. At 73 of these installations, the staff are so weak that at least a quarter of the workforce is missing.
The American plane travel system remains among the safest in the world. But the shortages of persistent staff and underinvestment in the security systems have led to an alarming number of close calls between planes.
The shortage is particularly severe in the New York region, where two crucial Long Island installations operate with almost 40% of non -filled positions. These installations direct air traffic for some of the most popular airports in the United States, notably Newark, JFK and Laguardia, which managed 1.2 million flights combined last year, according to the Authority Port of New York And New Jersey.
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The efforts already underway to hire and train new controllers should be lower than the requests for staff, according to the projections of the FAA. Almost three -quarters of the facilities will always remain below the recommended endowment levels after a long training process.
Improvement of ranks may not occur quickly. It can take more than four years to form a new air traffic controller in certain facilities. At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the accident site this week, training takes almost 16 months, according to data.
Emily Steel Contributed reports.
