FAA’s ATC problems are not unique; time for tabula rosa study?
#AirTrafficControl #FAA #NAV Canada #EUROCONTROL #AustraliaAirServices #IATA #RobertPoole
Air Traffic Control delays are not exclusively an American problem. Below are three reports which excoriate the FAA, NAV Canada,1 EUROCONTROL and Airservices Australian for inefficient delivery of these essential air transportation support. None of these authors include suggested solutions for the problems identified.
Worry not America!!! Our elected officials have declared that the FAA Reauthorization Act, once enacted, will rectify this mess:
- “The House of Representatives today passed the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (H.R. 3935), a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and aviation safety and infrastructure programs for the next five years, with broad bipartisan support in a 351-69 vote….
- Enhances the Passenger Experience
While many parts of the aviation system typically function without incident despite a growing volume of travelers, one weak link in a trip can ruin a passenger’s experience. The bill delivers reforms that will enhance the experience for the traveling public.”
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- “When we fly we expect to get where we’re going, safely, at a reasonable cost. But with mass flight cancellations, runway near-misses, and skyrocketing prices, Americans are getting frustrated,” said Sen. Cantwell. “The bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act will help get the air travel system soaring again by improving safety and service. The bill provides funding for the latest safety technology on runways, and to hire more air traffic controllers, pilots, and mechanics. The bill also sets the first-ever clear ticket refund standards for delayed flights and will penalize airlines that sell tickets on flights that they don’t have the staff or technology to operate. I look forward to moving the legislation through the Committee.”
If you’re not convinced, Robert Poole America’s leading expert on ATC, Robert Poole has opined:
- “In a detailed study of the FAA’s performance, economist Robert Poole found that the agency is risk averse, slow to make decisions, and mismanages procurement.1 It loses skilled people to private industry because of a lack of pay flexibility and frustration with the government work environment. Poole found that the FAA “is slow to embrace promising innovations,” and is ‘particularly resistant to high-potential innovations that would disrupt its own institutional status quo.’2 That is the opposite of what is needed in a dynamic technology-based industry.”
So why hasn’t the US adopted PRIVATIZATION? An all-out lobbying effort by the major airlines failed miserably. AND oh by the way, NAV Canada has been privatized; its operations are one of IATA’s targets for poor performance.
Perhaps it is time to open the analytical lens examining the FAA’s ATC problems. Maybe the 2023 Reforms will not fix the US problems: more $$$, mandated Hill inspired policies and procedures. Since 1981 the Administrators have focused on how to fix the system to no avail. Objective, external experts with no preconceived solutions must scrutinize this multi-faceted conundrum NOW.
IATA slams North American air traffic control chaos
By Pilar Wolfsteller19 July 2023
“The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has slammed North American aviation regulators for dragging their feet on increasing staffing at air traffic control (ATC) centres.
IATA director general Willie Walsh said on 19 July that the USA’s Federal Aviation Administration and Canada’s NAV Canada, the Canadian air navigation services provider, are “letting down airlines and the travelling public” as air traffic peaks to the highest levels since the global Covid-19 crisis.
“Over the past 12-18 months, airlines have responded to the very strong post-pandemic travel demand by adding tens of thousands of employees to their workforces,” Walsh says. “US passenger airline employment is now at its highest level in over two decades. In contrast, ATC staff shortages in North America continue to produce unacceptable delays and disruptions for the travelling public on both sides of the border.”
A recent report from the US Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) concluded that the FAA’S CURRENT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER SHORTAGE IS A RISK that must be addressed promptly. The report, published on 21 June, said the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the regulator’s ability to maintain ”the required number of controllers” at numerous US facilities. As a result, airlines and passengers have experienced thousands of delays and cancellations.
“The recent report… makes clear that the FAA has allowed the controller workforce to SHRINK to the point where it is CHALLENGED TO MAINTAIN CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS at the country’s most-critical air traffic control facilities,” Walsh says.
The report notes that in March 2022, 20 of 26 critical ATC facilities – more than two-thirds – were staffed below an 85% staffing threshold agreed to by the FAA and air traffic controller union NATCA in 2014. That means the majority of control centres across the nation – including busy facilities overseeing Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta and Chicago – are OPERATING WITH FAR FEWER CONTROLLERS THAN NOMINALLY NECESSARY.
“Poor ATC performance comes on top of the FAA and DOT requiring airlines to invest over $630 million to upgrade or replace fully certified onboard avionics equipment on thousands of aircraft to mitigate the risks of 5G roll-out near airports,” Walsh adds. “This is unique to the US. The 5G roll-out in other parts of the world has not required anything like this of airlines.”
“This double whammy of poor planning is exceptionally disappointing,” he adds.
IN CANADA, meanwhile, the government has revised passenger rights legislation and placed more burden on airlines, “irrespective of the root cause of disruptions and delays”, IATA says. This, Walsh says, is unfair, and accountability should lie “across the entire value chain”, with airlines not specifically singled out. The new consumer rights rules are “costly and poorly thought-out”.
“Ottawa and Washington, DC need to take ownership of the issues under their direct control and lead in resolving them,” he adds.
Record demand for air travel coupled with unstable summer weather across parts of North America have created havoc for many travellers in recent weeks. Over the Independence Day (in the US) and Canada Day travel periods earlier this month, hundreds of thousands of travellers were stranded as airlines struggled to maintain their schedules and regulators throttled flight volumes.
Former acting FAA administrator Billy Nolen earlier this year promised the agency would hire up to 3,000 new air traffic controllers by the end of 2024, but fully training them may take up to five years.
EUROCONTROL is not performing well
According to the Eurocontrol Network Manager’s reporting on network performance, the average delay per flight in 2022 increased to a 5-year high of 17.3 minutes per flight compared to 2021 where the average delay per flight was 9.2 minutes per flight. The number of flights increased by 48% when compared to 2021. Arrival punctuality for the year sharply deteriorated, with only 64.5% of flights arriving within 15 minutes or earlier than their scheduled arrival time (STA). The poor delay performance in 2022 was strongly influenced by the aviation industry in general struggling to accommodate the high numbers of passengers and flights following the declines of the COVID-19 pandemic, consequently, delays within airline and airport operations increased. Further analysis into the causes of delay shows reactionary (knock-on) delay contributed the most to the average delay per flight with a 48% share of delay minutes, translating to 8.0 minutes per flight. Airline causes, such as ground handling, staff shortage related delay ranked second with 4.9 minutes per flight. En-route ATFM delay sharply increased to 1.8 minutes per flight. There were significantly more ATFM capacity issues in the network in 2022. The Ukrainian crisis generated ATFM delays from 22 February 2022 as traffic flows shifted following the closure of the Ukrainian FIR. Karlsruhe UAC saw delays from a combination of ATC capacity, weather and increased complexity due to military traffic. Industrial action returned to the network, with French ATC and Italian ATC both striking during the year. There were also ATM system implementations in Reims, Praha and Lisbon ACCs. Airport delays also increased, as many of the major European hub airports struggled with labour shortages and adjusting their operations to accommodate the increasing numbers of passengers during the start and peak summer season months.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL NOT DELIVERING GOOD SERVICE, ADMITS CEO
written by Adam Thorn | August 4, 2023
Victor Pody shot this picture of Melbourne’s air traffic control towers
The CEO of air traffic control provider AIRSERVICES has admitted his organisation is not delivering the standard of service expected following a row over closed airspace.
However, Jason Harfield insisted “aviation safety performance has been maintained” and pledged to ensure “transparency and accountability for our ongoing performance”.
The statement, released to coincide with its new industry report, was released on a Friday afternoon and significantly didn’t include an apology.
It comes amid a row over whether or not Airservices Australia has enough employees following hundreds of occasions over the last year where it has effectively shut down a significant portion of airspace.
Airservices had previously said it has 100 more air traffic controllers than it requires to operate Australia’s network and said the shutdowns were a result of a “short-term” and “unplanned” leave of controllers.
On Friday, Airservices released a new ‘Australian Aviation Network Overview’, which it describes as an “industry snapshot covering social and economic trends, our regional context and performance of the Australian aviation network for financial year”.
In a cover letter, Harfield said, “Our industry is now experiencing a rapid recovery while still facing significant volatility and the ongoing disruptive effects of the pandemic.
“Traffic patterns and the rate of recovery has not been uniform across the Australian network. Regional airports which service domestic leisure demand, interstate migration and mining regions are experiencing strong growth. In contrast, despite a high rate of recovery, international operations at the busiest capital-city airports are still 30 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
“In navigating these challenges, regrettably, Airservices has not consistently delivered the service standard we expect of ourselves and relied upon by our customers and stakeholders.
“While aviation safety performance has been maintained, the EFFICIENCY AND CONSISTENCY OF THE NETWORK, at times, has been IMPACTED AND CONSTRAINED, HAMPERING THE RECOVERY.
“I am committed to ensuring transparency and accountability for our ongoing performance to ensure we can effectively serve our customers day in and day out.”
Harfield continues that his organisation “must work closely with customers and stakeholders” to support aviation’s recovery.
“My intention is to foster a more-informed conversation about how we tackle common challenges and shape the opportunities to improve outcomes for the aviation industry and the travelling public.”
His intervention comes after Qantas said staff shortages at Airservices had a “significant impact” on its reliability, and following air traffic control union Civil Air and the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) arguing the organisation has a staffing issue.
Airservices has consistently maintained it has enough staff. The ATC operator previously said it expects around 80 new trainees to become operational in the 2024 financial year, and is recruiting a further 140 for 2025, after which it plans to recruit an extra 80–140 trainees per year.
“Airservices employs more than 900 ATCs, 97 per cent of which are in operational roles. Airservices only requires about 800 ATCs to fully staff the ATC network,” said a spokesperson for Airservices in a statement previously.
“Rosters are tight in some areas as a component of the ATC workforce are currently unavailable for operational duties. These staff are either on long-term sick leave, parental leave, training for other ATC positions, or working on a project.”
The closure of the airspace forces aircraft to self-separate from each other and rely on radio broadcasts rather than centralised information from air traffic controllers.
Switching to TIBA – traffic information broadcasts by aircraft – leads to delays and cancellations, with Virgin’s policy not to operate in TIBA airspace when possible.
Airservices, however, insists its TIBA workaround procedure is both safe and “internationally recognised”.
