The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has responsibility for managing this system and ensuring the safe and efficient movement of air traffic. To successfully accomplish this mission, FAA must have a sufficient number of adequately trained air traffic controllers working at air traffic control (ATC) facilities. Specifically, we were asked to (1) identify the key variables FAA uses to project future controller staffing needs and evaluate their reasonableness, (2) determine whether FAA has identified a sufficient number of controller candidates to satisfy its short- and long-term controller staffing needs and evaluate FAA’s plans to train new controllers, and (3) identify impediments that hinder FAA from staffing ATC facilities at specified levels. However, FAA did provide copies of the models used to project attrition for fiscal year 1995. Data on the Age and Service Time of Recently Retired Controllers Indicate That Fewer Controllers Could Retire in Future Years Than FAA Has Forecast

Rather than estimating future retirements on the basis of assumptions about who will be eligible to retire, FAA could use actual information on the age and service time of those controllers who retired in recent years, as well as current controllers, to predict future retirements. Because it is uncertain whether enough controller candidates will be available from the current sources to fill these needs, FAA officials have announced plans to expand the CTI program to include more schools and have reactivated the cooperative education program. FAA Is Expanding Its Controller Candidate Pool to Address Long-Term Staffing Needs and Is Revising Its Controller Training Program

In addition to the 1,300 new controllers FAA plans to hire in fiscal years 1997 and 1998 to meet its short-term staffing needs, FAA plans to hire a large number of new controllers in fiscal years 1999 through 2002 to meet its long-term controller staffing needs. Because FAA does not know when these controllers will retire, it is uncertain when they will need to be replaced. Although FAA officials believe that revising the existing controller training program will reduce on-the-job training time and costs, this change could result in FAA incurring training costs currently being paid by controller candidates. FAA Has Identified Several Impediments That Hinder Its Ability to Staff ATC Facilities at Specified Levels

Controller staffing at the national and regional levels closely reflected the levels specified by the staffing standards. FAA Officials Identified Impediments That Contribute to Staffing Imbalances at ATC Facilities

FAA officials at the headquarters, regional, and facility levels identified a number of impediments that hinder FAA’s ability to reduce staffing differences at facilities where there are too many or too few controllers relative to their workloads. These impediments include FAA’s practice of not providing funds to move controllers until the end of the fiscal year, a practice that delays the prompt movement of controllers to fill vacancies, and regional officials’ inability to recruit local candidates to minimize controller transfers among facilities.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to address short- and long-term controller staffing needs, focusing on: (1) the key variables FAA uses to project future controller staffing needs and evaluate their reasonableness; (2) whether FAA has identified a sufficient number of controller candidates to satisfy its short- and long-term staffing needs and evaluate FAA's plans to train new controllers; and (3) impediments that hinder FAA from staffing air traffic control (ATC) facilities at specified levels.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) FAA uses two key variables to project future controller staffing needs; (2) while FAA's estimates of air traffic growth are reasonable, GAO's analysis indicated that FAA could be overstating retirements, which account for most controller attrition, for fiscal years (FY) 1999 through 2002; (3) rather than using actual information on controllers' age and service time to project future retirements, FAA bases its estimates on assumptions about when controllers will be eligible to retire; (4) FAA has identified a sufficient number of controller candidates to meet its short-term staffing needs in FY 1997 and 1998; (5) however, beyond FY 1998, it is uncertain whether current sources can provide the controller candidates FAA will need to meet its hiring goals for FY 1999 through 2002; (6) the majority of available candidates are controllers who were fired in 1981 and who FAA officials believe could be eligible to retire within a few years of reemployment; (7) however, FAA has not conducted any analysis to support this position; (8) to help meet its long-term hiring goals, FAA is expanding its collegiate program to include more schools and has reactivated the cooperative education program; (9) beginning in FY 1998, FAA will require that all new controllers receive some training at its Academy; (10) FAA believes that this will reduce on-the-job training time and costs; (11) this revision, however, could increase the federal costs of initial controller training because FAA will pay a portion of training expenses currently being paid by participants in the collegiate program; (12) FAA officials identified several principal impediments that hinder their ability to staff ATC facilities at specified levels; (13) the first is FAA headquarters' practice of generally not providing funds to relocate controllers until the end of the FY, which causes delayed controller moves and continued staffing imbalances; (14) the second impediment is the limited ability of regional officials to recruit controller candidates locally to fill vacancies at ATC facilities; (15) in addition, FAA regional officials also believe that limited hiring of new controllers in recent years has hindered their ability to fill vacancies; (16) partly due to these impediments, as of April 1996, about 53 percent of ATC facilities were not staffed at levels specified by FAA's staffing standards; (17) there are facilities where staffing differences are not justified; (18) FAA has implemented several initiatives to improve its ability to staff the facilities at specified levels; and (19) it is too early, however, to determine the effectiveness of these initiatives.