Airport towers lose veterans

WASHINGTON — Far more veteran air traffic controllers than the government expected have retired since the Bush administration imposed a contract on their union on Labor Day 2006, new data show.

While veteran controllers bail out in unprecedented numbers and air travelers experience record delays, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a series of all-is-well pronouncements about its work force.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, by contrast, has produced a stream of warnings about safety risks to the public from overworked controllers in major air-control centers it says are understaffed.

What is certain: A veteran force of controllers, mostly hired in the early 1980s after President Reagan fired 11,000 members of a predecessor controllers union, is being replaced by lower-paid, less-experienced young controllers, and that long-expected transformation is occurring faster than the government anticipated.

The Associated Press learned that the FAA recently considered offering a cash bonus of 25 percent of one year's pay to top-rated veteran controllers who delay retirement two years, although FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown denied this was spawned by any staffing difficulties.

A total of 828 controllers retired in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, the FAA said late Friday. That's 28.8 percent more than the 643 retirements the agency predicted at the beginning of fiscal 2007, though it increased its estimate twice during the year, to 700 and then 800.

The union said it found 24 more who confirmed their retirements before Sept. 30 but have not yet shown up in agency retirement records. Union spokesman Doug Church added that only 16 of all the year's retirees had reached 56, the mandatory retirement age.

During September 2006 — the month before fiscal 2007 — 97 controllers retired, compared with the 39 the FAA predicted, according to the Transportation Department inspector general, who said the jump "was a result of the breakdown in contract talks."

That month began with the FAA ending an impasse in negotiations by imposing a contract with new work rules, including staffing cuts, a dress code and a 30 percent cut in the pay of starting controllers. The agency tossed out staffing levels negotiated in the 1998 contract and targeted all 314 control facilities for staff cuts ranging from 9 to 26 percent.

"The surge in retirements just shows that the FAA's imposed work rules and pay system have exacerbated an already critical staffing issue," union President Patrick Forrey said. "Now we have controllers retiring with five and six years of eligible service left because ... they're concerned about making a big mistake due to the fatigue."

The FAA views the retirements differently. The agency had long known fiscal 2007 would be the peak year for controllers hired in the early 1980s to become eligible for retirement, so it hired 1,815 new controllers during the year and now employs 14,874 controllers, exceeding the year's target, it said.

"Controller hiring, training and staffing is a major priority, and we are on track to meet future traffic needs," said acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell.

The FAA's Brown denied the work-force transformation compromised safety and noted that fatal-accident rates in both commercial and private aviation are at record lows. She said staffing needed to be revised to reflect airline bankruptcies, mergers and flight-pattern changes after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In addition to retirements, many veteran controllers were promoted to management jobs. Brown said she could not provide a number Friday, but the union said 365 controllers got such promotions. It said an additional 337 resigned, were fired or died, but the majority of resignations and firings were among new hires.