FAA plans license to obtain 11,000 employees at the closure of the United States government

By David Sheparson

Washington (Reuters): The United States Department of Transportation said on Tuesday that more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration, approximately a quarter of their staff, would be unbalanced if the financing of the Lapea government.

American airlines have warned that a partial closure of the federal government at midnight (0400 GMT) could force US aviation and slow flights, since air traffic controllers and security officers would be forced to work without paying and other functions would stop.

With the eye of keeping the safe skies, it would be required that more than 13,000 current air traffic controls continue to work, but it would not be paid until the closure ended, the FAA said.

FAA has approximately 3,800 controllers less than are target personnel levels, but even if government financing is stopped, FAA would continue to hire and train air traffic drivers. During the previous closures of the Government, FAA suspended hiring and most of the training of air traffic drivers.

The National Transport Security Board said that about 25% of its 400 employees would be licensed, but it could still launch new research on air accidents and other incidents and continue its research on the collision of January 29 in the air between a regional plane of the US airlines and the army helicopter that killed 67 people.

The NTSB will retain many more employees than during the previous stops when it had to obtain a performance of 90% or more of its workers. In 2019, the agency did not send investigators at 22 accidents due to the financing period. But I made the case to the White House Budget officials who needed more personnel for critical functions.

Around 50,000 employees of the transport security administration that customize the airport security control points should also continue working, but would not be paid.

In 2019, for a closure of 35 days, the number of absences by the controllers and the TSA officers increased as the workers lost payment checks, extending the waiting times of the control point in some airports. The authorities were forced to slow down air traffic in New York, which pressed legislators to quickly end the confrontation.

Airline Trade Group Airlines For America, which represents United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and others, warned that if financing exhausts, “the system may need to reduce speed, reduce efficiency” and impact travelers.

The United States Travel Association, which represents airlines, hotels, car rental companies and other travel companies, said a partial closure of the United States government would cost the United States travel sector $ 1 billion per week.

FAA has about 45,000 employees. In total, the transport department would exceed 12,200 employees of 53,717, including FAA.

The FAA said that certification activities would continue for the operational security functions of commercial aircraft and engines, as well as the supervision and licenses of launching commercial spaces.

(David Shepardson report; Leslie Adler edition, Chris Sanders and Jamie Freed)