More Flight Delays, Cancellations Possible as FAA Strains to Meet Demand: Agency Head

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is facing a tough challenge as air travel demand increases while its air-traffic control towers are already understaffed. This could lead to more flight delays and cancellations, warns Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen during an April 26 hearing in Washington.

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), ranking member of the subcommittee whose oversight includes the FAA, is concerned about the reliability of flights. He says constituents have expressed their worries, saying, “I don’t feel like I’m buying a ticket. I feel like I’m buying a chance.”

Quigley believes that aviation safety, workforce readiness, and airport infrastructure must be state-of-the-art to meet the projected 10 percent increase in air travel. He’s a member of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, under the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations.

Congressional Delay Likely

However, Nolen cautions that this won’t happen if Congress delays enacting the FAA’s spending authorization. A funding delay would require “immediate cuts in all of these critical systems,” Nolen said, including shutting down about 275 air-traffic control towers, leaving two-thirds of the National Air System without those services. The FAA also would need to impose a hiring freeze, employee furloughs, and halt computer modernization.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) is pessimistic about this committee’s ability to get responsible legislation pushed through both chambers of Congress and signed into law by an Oct. 1 deadline. “We need to do our work, and we need to do it in a timely fashion,” Womack said.

Other Stressors

None of this bodes well at a time when the U.S. Department of Transportation asked airlines to cut 10 percent of their summer flight schedules for the New York corridor. There, air-traffic control towers are suffering from staffing as low as 54 percent; the national average staffing level is 81 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a recent statement.

Further complicating matters, Nolen has announced that he’ll be leaving the agency soon. Nolen has served as acting administrator for a year and is waiting for President Joe Biden to name a second nominee.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chair of the subcommittee, thanked Nolen for his leadership and said, “By all accounts, your steady hand and safety expertise [have] served our nation well during this critical period.”

Nolen recommended that Congress approve nearly $20 billion to ensure continuous, predictable, and robust funding for aviation safety.