One of our favorite news-spies dropped this on us a little while ago... a copy of a memo that the FAA's Air Traffic guru, Russ Chew (below, right), sent to his troops in an obvious attempt to pump up their morale and put a positive spin on their recent efforts.

We thought you might find it interesting....

Dear Colleagues:
 
As the Air Traffic Organization enters its second year, I think it’s important to note the significant progress we have made. At the same time, it’s normal to feel confused and concerned about the restructuring because we are still in the processes broken in this massive change. Nevertheless, we’re seeing positive, measurable results. You can be proud of your contribution to achieve these results. Our overall unit cost was down in 2004 for the first time in nine years. Specifically, the overall unit costs in 2004 dropped by $19 per flight, or about 4 percent. Our operating expenses actually fell in 2004 when adjusted for inflation. You are all to be commended for producing this result. 
 
To be sure, we still have a long way to go in our journey through transformation, but we’re off to a good start. In just one year, we have achieved a number of major goals, including: Establishing the 10 service units and streamlining the organization; creating the performance benchmarks needed to improve both effectiveness and accountability; instituting results-driven business planning, with operational and financial commitments tied to the Flight Plan; improving financial planning and reporting; initiating training for managers that supports the changes, and improving communications. Over the next phase of our transition plan, we’ll begin putting these new tools to use – and that’s when real performance improvements will become possible.
 
While we’ve been making necessary changes in structure and business processes, there’s been no change in our dedication to excellence in our service. That was evident, to cite one example, in the successful development and implementation of the high altitude Domestic Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum - a major accomplishment. Our commercial aviation safety record remains unsurpassed, even though we are handling rapidly increasing and more complex traffic. In 2004, there were no fatal commercial aircraft accidents in U.S. airspace. We achieved our 2004 goal of reducing the most serious runway incursions. There were 28 such incidents during the year, significantly better than the target of 40. We still have room for improvement in reducing operational errors, as there were eight more such errors last year than the goal of 629.
 
As we continue to stress safety, we also are striving to increase capacity. Here too, there was progress. For example, ATO achieved its FY 2004 goal for increasing airport arrivals. There were 51,588 flight arrivals a day at 35 top airports during the year, which exceeded the goal of 51,332. We also took action to reduce delays and congestion through agreements with industry leaders reached at our first “Growth Without Gridlock” conference.
 
All of these achievements were due to your efforts.Thanks for staying the course as we continue to build a strong foundation for the ATO.
 
Sincerely,

Russ Chew
COO, FAA Air Traffic Organization

FMI: www.faa.gov