Moves Affect As Many As 400 Employees

In its bid to shrink the number of FAA regional offices from nine down to three, the agency's Air Traffic Organization is relocating hundreds of jobs -- and will rely on attrition to weed others out. That poses a big safety problem, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which says it has seen a series of reorganizations, consolidations, and overall downsizing since the creation of the ATO.

NATCA representatives tell Aero-News the first wave of personnel shifts -- what NATCA deems "attacks" -- will hit six major cities: Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles and New York. Overall, as many as 400 employees could be affected.

"Inadequate air traffic controller staffing has been a problem for years; now they are attacking jobs that include air traffic support staff, engineers, and contract officers," said NATCA President John Carr. "It is going to result in a system that is less safe, less efficient and less responsive to the needs of the National Airspace System."

In Boston, for example, NATCA says the FAA plans to relocating the regional program manager responsible for the new Airport Surface Detection Equipment, model X radar at Logan International Airport -- to Atlanta. Meanwhile, airport integration engineers and operations liaisons who work closely with local FAA and airport authority employees in Chicago on the expansion of O’Hare International Airport are to be relocated to Fort Worth, TX.

NATCA says they aren't the only ones protesting the move -- congressional opposition to the FAA’s relocation plan has been swift, as well.

California congresswoman Maxine Waters wrote a letter to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey over planned changes at the Los Angeles regional office. "There is no operational or fiscal justification for this transfer," Waters wrote. "This ill-advised realignment will be bad for aviation customers, bad for safety, and bad for the Los Angeles Regional Office employees."

The agency’s actions have also prompted Congressional inquiries from Illinois and Massachusetts. The Illinois delegation believes that the move "raises serious questions about the FAA’s commitment to the success of the modernization process at O’Hare," according to NATCA.

"This seems like a pennywise, but pound foolish way to cut costs at the FAA," said Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy about the relocations. "Not only has air traffic safety been a heightened issue in our region lately, but our nation is also facing a dangerous shortage of air traffic controllers in the coming five or six years. Now is not the time to shuffle the deck and cut essential staff support."

The FAA's Russ Chew announced the move to close regional offices around the country -- and consolidate operations into three offices representing Western, Central, and Eastern areas -- in an internal memo obtained by Aero-News last December.

FMI: www.natca.org, www.ato.faa.gov