FAA measures to reduce operating costs

[Escape Path]

FAA warns sequestration will lead to long flight delays by April | ATWOnline (http://atwonline.com/international-aviation-regulation/news/faa-warns-sequestration-will-lead-long-flight-delays-april-02)

Just read this article on ATW stating that delays at airports could be "up to 90 minutes" because of the measures they will implement to reduce their operating costs. Troublesome, perhaps, worrying, maybe not. That is up until this bit though:

The FAA spending reductions will begin to take effect in April, when the “vast majority” of the agency’s 47,000 employees will be furloughed for 1-2 days per two-week pay period, the officials said. They added that FAA plans to close more than 100 ATC towers at smaller airports and will “reduce preventative maintenance and equipment provisioning and support for all [national airspace] equipment.”

Beg you pardon? :ooh:

Because of the cuts, FAA “may reduce the efficiency of the national airspace in order to maintain the highest safety standards,” LaHood and Huerta wrote.

Beg you pardon? :ooh:

How exactly is reducing efficiency of anything, really, a mean to "maintain the highest safety standard"?

They either picked a poor set of words or they are just completely out of their minds. I think most will choose the latter...

[DaveReidUK]

They either picked a poor set of words or they are just completely out of their minds. I think most will choose the latter... Right now, the FAA, in common with pretty well all US government agencies, are between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

may reduce the efficiency of the national airspace in order to maintain the highest safety standardsOK, poor choice of words. Substitute "capacity" for "efficiency" and you will get the idea.

[BobnSpike]

The inmates are running the asylum.

[Lonewolf_50]

FAA could have been exempted, and still can be if Congress and President choose to make that a priority.

They are too busy waving their willies at each other. :p

[DISCOKID]

The fact that the government will continue paying huge grants to joke airports that have no passengers and no flights just goes to show how messed up their spending priorities are.

The FAA spreading these stories is all just part of the politics of trying to paint forthcoming cuts as bad for the public when there are plenty of areas that could be cut first.....

In Oklahoma, tiny airport attracts federal money, but few planes - The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-oklahoma-tiny-airport-attracts-federal-money-but-few-planes/2013/02/25/914057e2-7c39-11e2-9e84-3fbb5d2ef2a9_story.html)

[BobnSpike]

The grant program referenced in that story is funded exclusively by a specific tax on airline tickets. It does not come out of the same federal budget as the operating expenses of the federal government.

I agree that the spending priorities in DC are completely cattywompus but the aviation grant program is not a good example. It does, in fact, with designated funding, help with the maintenance and improvement of the aviation infrastructure. If the grant program is to be eliminated, they need to eliminate the ticket tax which funds it at the same time.

The entire US government, all three branches, should be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail.

[galant1]

so i am paying taxes on my airline ticket for airport that has no use, great.

maybe the FAA should shut down the side that does nothing but do as the ailines want, you know like give airline certificates out as handing out lolly pops which makes it difficult for a pilot to make a proper income, and leave the controllers and inspectors alone.

[Daermon ATC]

so i am paying taxes on my airline ticket for airport that has no use, great.


Welcome to Spain :yuk:
Ciudad Real Central Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Real_Central_Airport)
Castellón Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castell%C3%B3n_Airport)
International airport of the Region of Murcia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_airport_of_the_Region_of_Murcia)

And I thought "Spain is different" :ugh:

[barit1]

CNN (3/1, Ahlers) reported, "Two days after a Federal Aviation Administration official told contractors that steps were being taken to shut down 168 air traffic control towers on April 1, the agency gave the towers an unexpected reprieve Friday, saying the official's comments were 'unauthorized.'" Yet the conversation in which the statement was made "included FAA officials and representatives of all three contractors who operate FAA control towers in the United States."

The story noted that "about 250 of the nation's 374 towers are staffed by contractors," and according to "a 2011 report by the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General, they "cost on average $537,000 a year to operate, compared to $2 million for comparably busy FAA-staffed towers."

(Whoa! What's that last line again??)

[Flitefone]

Barit - here is the audit report on FAA costs:

DOT - Contract Towers Continue To Provide Cost-Effective and Safe Air Traffic Services, but Improved Oversight of the Program Is Needed | Office of Inspector General (http://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/5989) it's worth reading the PDF.

Meanwhile....

Lots of media manipulation over the past days on FAA sequestration impacts, most of it fluff.

Scandalous in fact, FAA getting less and less reliable and more and more like French ATC for consistency these days.

[barit1]

Airports contradict Janet Napolitano's sequester claim - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9908416/Airports-contradict-Janet-Napolitanos-sequester-claim.html)

[JohnnyRocket]

Mail warning to prepare for the worst... but things don't seem too bad... yet!

Assume the brace position: Airport delays to get even longer from today as thousands of air traffic controllers are furloughed | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2312626/Assume-brace-position-Airport-delays-longer-today-thousands-air-traffic-controllers-furloughed.html)

[bubbers44]

Obama is punishing the public. Thank God we now are going to get them back tomorrow. We need a new president ASAP.

[weasil]

The President doesnt write the budget. The congress does that, or is supposed to but they havent done so in years. Just keep lurching from one crisis to the next.

[west lakes]

Keep up at the back

BBC News - Congress passes bill to end widespread airline delays (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22314248)

[weasil]

FAA says air travel system to be normal Sunday night - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/faa-says-air-travel-system-171531569.html)

(Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Saturday it had suspended all employee furloughs and that it expects the U.S. air travel system to return to normal by Sunday evening Eastern Time.

The suspension follows passage on Friday of a bill allowing the agency to shift money within its budget to halt furloughs of air-traffic controllers that started April 21.

The furloughs, prompted by automatic budget cuts, caused thousands of flight delays and hundreds of cancellations throughout the week. The FAA said in a statement on Saturday that it expects staffing to return to normal levels over the next 24 hours.

Airports around the country were reporting that flights were arriving and departing on time at 1 p.m. EDT, with the exception of San Francisco, where arrivals were delayed 44 minutes on average because of construction, the FAA said.