FAA Lays Out Additional Steps for Air Traffic Control Safety After Close Calls

A Latam Airlines plane takes off from Miami International Airport in Miami, Fla., on Jan. 2, 2023. Marco Bello/Reuters

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday announced extra steps air traffic controllers should take to avoid more incidents of near collisions at airports.

“Even though we all know that multiple levels of safety are built into our system, there is no question that we are seeing too many close calls,” said Tim Arel, chief operating officer of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Organization.

On Wednesday, the FAA issued a separate safety alert to airlines, pilots, and others citing the “need for continued vigilance and attention to mitigation of safety risks.”

The safety alert, entitled the “Aviation Safety Call to Action,” was posted (pdf) after the FAA convened a safety summit on March 15 following six serious runway incursions that unfolded since January of this year.

In the Thursday memo, Arel laid out five extra steps the organization will take including ensuring that supervisors devote their full attention to the operation and airfield during peak traffic periods.

“Our dedication to continuous improvement demands that we dig deep to identify the underlying factors and address them,” Arel said. “With the summer travel season just around the corner, airlines and the traveling public have high expectations.” The FAA will also provide more dedicated training for unusual circumstances, and update simulator software for the first time since 2016.

The agency plans to work with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to reinforce existing safety protocols and reexamine runway incursion data “to identify underlying factors that led to these close calls and identify remedies.”

Despite the recent close calls at airports, flying remains an incredibly safe mode of travel. About 45,000 flights are typically completed each day in the United States, all without a fatality. That’s a number that continues to rise following a slowdown of commercial flights at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air Traffic Controller Shortages

The FAA faces an air traffic control staffing shortage and wants funding to boost controller numbers, as significant understaffing of air traffic controllers has been a contributing factor in the close calls.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Rich Santa said last week there are 1,200 fewer certified air traffic controllers than a decade ago.

On Wednesday, the FAA said it would temporarily cut minimum flight requirements for airlines to keep take-off and landing slots at congested New York City-area airports and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to address summer congestion issues.

It said the move is necessary because of “post-pandemic effects on Air Traffic Controller (ATC) staffing” in the New York center.

The FAA said it had agreed to requests from Delta Air Lines and United Airlines to temporarily return up to 10 percent of slots and flights at those airports on the condition they were not backfilled by other carriers.

“It is imperative that aviation stakeholders and the FAA work collaboratively to take proactive measures,” United said.

Reuters contributed to this report.