Editorial: Impending staff crunch

Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

With U.S. air travelers enduring record-breaking delays and flight cancellations, the nation's air traffic controllers are retiring more rapidly than federal officials had predicted.

The Associated Press reports that 828 controllers retired in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 - 185 more than the FAA had expected . Controllers must retire at age 56, but they may retire earlier if they have 25 years of service. That means there is a pool of controllers younger than 56 who are eligible for retirement but who could work longer.

FAA officials in August considered, and later rejected, a proposal to offer experienced controllers a bonus of 25 percent of one year's pay to stay, the AP reports. An FAA spokeswoman claimed the proposal was not a result of concerns about staffing levels. We find that hard to believe.

Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which represents controllers, said Monday the nation's controllers "believe the situation is spinning out of control."

He blames a contract the Bush administration imposed on the union in September 2006 that includes staffing cuts and a 30 percent cut in what starting controllers are paid. In the same month the new contract went into effect, 97 controllers retired - far more than the 39 the FAA had predicted.

FAA officials say although it is taking longer than they expected to hire and train new controllers, the nation's air traffic control centers "are staffed well" and "the system is safe," the AP reports.

The FAA has a history of missing the mark when it comes to planning for retirement vacancies.

A 2002 study by the Government Accountability Office predicted that 5,000 controllers would retire between 2002 and this year. As a result, the GAO said, the FAA would "likely need to hire thousands of air traffic controllers in the next decade to meet increasing traffic demands and to address the anticipated attrition . "

Th e GAO report went on to say the FAA lacked a long-term strategy to address the impending retirement of its experienced controllers, and its hiring process didn't allow time to adequately train recruits.

Five years later it appears the FAA is still making those same mistakes. And there simply is no excuse for that.