Airheads and the FAA: 70,000 More Worries

As noted here in earlier posts, the U.S. Congress - the House of Representatives and the Senate - have each passed legislation to fund the Federal Aviation Administration, but can't blend - 'reconcile' in Washingtonese - differences in the bills. Moreover, an attempt to pass a 21st temporary funding measure for the FAA failed.

This latest example of governmental dysfunctionality caused 4,000 FAA workers to be furloughed on Saturday, Day 1 of the crisis. Today, Thursday, Day 6, they have been joined by 70,000 more workers who were laboring on badly needed airport expansions and other infrastructure upgrades; these have been halted for lack of money. This means no paychecks and no spending money for these people and their families. All this at near-record highs in nationwide unemployment, when throwing 70,000 more onto the unemployment rolls means U.S. retail outlets, automobile dealerships, construction companies and other busiensses will lose revenue.

Does Congress not understand that putting 70,000 out of work - not to mention the legions of federal workers targeted by presumptive future cuts in the federal budget - means adding significantly to short- and perhaps long-term unemployment?

As slowing growth in international air-travel shows, pace the International Air Transport Association's statistics (www.iata.org)- a big influx of newly unemployed means the already-staggering business community won't see enough demand to hire these people and switch their employment to the private sector from the public sector. Result: Deep structural unemployment.

What a mess. Well, at least the air traffic controllers are still on the job and the planes are still flying. But without federal funding, without the revenue from suspended federal taxes on air fares and without continuing research on long-delayed next generation air traffic control systems, the crucially important U.S. aviation market is flying into turbulence and no one knows when it's going to fly back out.

Two Cheers for the U.S. DOT

I was pretty pleased these past few days, hearing about the U.S. Department of Transportation's plans to strengthen air passengers' rights when it comes to getting bumped from a flight, being compensated for lost luggage, suffering through delays on the tarmac and so on. Then I remembered I am facing eight domestic flights in the next two weeks - only two of which, nonstops on Virgin America - are likely to be pleasant, and my mood darkened.

Now, reading over the list of changes, I'm thinking not hip, hip hurrah for the DOT, but just hip, hip - hold the hurrah. The rules-changes are definitely a step in the right direction, but do they go far enough?

No. Especially in a time when air traffic controllers - zonked on the job from lack of sleep - fall into deep slumber or chill out by watching a movie rather than direct pilots how to land. Even U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama's pilot was given inaccurate information from an air traffic control tower last week. The First Lady! And that was a military ATC, too.

I'm all for boosting compensation when a bag is lost and the airline is culpable. Ditto if a traveler is involuntarily bumped from an overbooked flight. Have you flown in the United States lately? If you do manage to wedge yourself into the plane, you may find - as I did this morning when I tried to book a seat on a flight departing 10 days from now - that every seat is taken. Airlines are also supposed to become more transparent about listing ancillary fees that brought them $2.5 billion USD in revenue last year; that, too, is devoutly desired, as it can be hard to know the true total cost of a flight at the time of booking.

People in civil aviation reflexively - and understandably - say that safety is their highest priority. In line with that, DOT should understand that boosting an ATC's time away from the tower to nine hours from eight - one of the rules-changes scheduled to take effect in late August, after the busy summer flying season - is not enough. These people are exhausted. (So, incidently, are many pilots.) Treating people who control the movements of planes and the lives of millions of travelers like sleep-deprived hospital interns is not a good idea. (Having sleep-deprived hospital interns is not a good idea, either.) Adding a second ATC to the lone worker pulling duty overnight at 28 U.S. airports is a good, and long overdue, move.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the PBS "NewsHour'' that his department and Federal Aviation Administration administrators will make additional changes in American air travel if necessary. Get ready to make them, Mr. Secretary. It's necessary.