Letter: Congress can act to alleviate ATC shortage

This letter originally appeared in The Rochester Post-Bulletin.

According to the recent article “ Rochester’s airport flagged as one of the most understaffed air traffic towers ,” the airport’s control tower is operating with a skeleton crew. It has just 43 percent of the controllers it needs — the lowest rate in the country.

This shortfall puts the airport’s 2.4 million annual passengers at risk of serious delays or cancellations. Similar staffing issues at major hubs like Newark and Austin have already disrupted travel for millions of Americans taking to the skies.

Fortunately, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently unveiled a plan to supercharge air traffic controller hiring. The agency will increase salaries, fast-track the best candidates, and streamline the hiring process by cutting bureaucratic red tape.

But to make that plan a reality, Congress must allocate the necessary resources to fuel it. As lawmakers in Washington continue to advance the budget reconciliation package — which includes $1 billion in funding for air traffic controller recruitment — members should act swiftly to put these critical reforms into motion.

That way, passengers at Rochester and across the country can fly easy knowing air traffic control towers are operating without staffing turbulence.

Jackson Shedelbower, Arlington, Virginia
The writer is executive director of the Center for Transportation Policy.