An ad hoc committee will conduct a study to inform the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) interest in developing objective, science-based approaches for setting future air traffic controller staffing targets to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the national airspace system. The committee will compare and evaluate competing controller staffing models, examine the array of factors that contribute to current staffing levels, and assess future needs of the air traffic control system and their potential impacts on staffing requirements.
Currently there are two models for developing FAA’s future air traffic controller staffing targets; one developed by the FAA’s Office of Financial and Labor Analysis and the other developed by an FAA collaborative resource working group with involvement by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. The committee will review the structure, assumptions, data sources, and other components of the two models, consider why they have produced different aggregate and facility-level staffing targets, and assess their respective strengths and weaknesses.
The committee will make recommendations to FAA and Congress, as appropriate, to improve methods for planning the future controller workforce taking into account experiences with regard to factors such as controller task loads; performance efficiency; time spent on non-traffic duties; training requirements; hiring, retention, transfer, and retirement patterns; leave usage; and scheduling needs and challenges. In making recommendations, the committee will also consider how developments such as the integration of new users and technologies and new navigation and traffic control procedures may impact future controller staffing requirements and planning. The committee will also review the progress made by FAA in furthering the recommendations of previous NASEM reports on controller staffing approaches.