FAA asked not to cut back on air controllers in Spokane

Washington and Idaho’s congressional delegation is urging the Federal Aviation Administration not to curtail the hours of operation for air traffic controllers at airports in Spokane and Boise.

In December 2004, the FAA issued a staffing report for air traffic controllers, laying out plans to adequately staff the nation’s 315 federally operated facilities. Citing the need to more efficiently use its staff, the FAA proposed reducing staff during the hours of operation at certain airports “where there is low or no activity.”

That proposal resulted in a list of 48 airports, including those in Spokane and Boise, where the FAA planned to eliminate the midnight-to-5 a.m. shift, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. The idea has been strongly opposed by Spokane’s business community, airport board and the region’s congressional delegation.

“Meeting homeland security and airplane safety challenges is not a part-time job; it requires a full-time commitment,” said Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell in a news release Thursday. “We need to be prepared 24 hours a day to safely mobilize and land our military planes and not jeopardize the safety of air travelers.”

Mike Fergus, a Seattle-area spokesman for the FAA, said the staffing report has been approved by regional offices and sent to Washington, D.C., for review. He had no estimate for when it might be approved or denied.

Cantwell joined with Idaho Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo and U.S. Reps. Cathy McMorris and Butch Otter of Washington and Idaho, respectively, in urging the FAA to remove the Spokane and Boise airports from the list. Washington Sen. Patty Murray sent a similar letter two weeks ago.

Though there are few commercial planes landing in Spokane between midnight and 5 a.m., air traffic controllers still handle between three and eight flights per hour, said Mitch Roland, the Spokane representative for the air traffic controllers association. That includes flights for Fairchild Air Force Base, MedStar’s air ambulance service, and planes landing in Spokane due to bad weather in Seattle or Portland, Roland said. Sophisticated instrumentation in Spokane allows air traffic controllers to land those flights even in the fog that frequently covers the area in the winter.

If the cutbacks are approved by FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, air traffic controllers wouldn’t lose their jobs, Roland said. However, safety and service would be compromised, he said.

“Right now, there’s a war,” Roland said of Fairchild’s air traffic. “They’re on alert 24 hours a day. Whenever they need to go, we’re here for them.”

About MedStar, he added, “They fly 24 hours a day. They need special clearance in bad weather. We’re sitting right here. We can give them a much quicker response time than anybody else could.”

“When you look at it for Spokane,” he said, “it just doesn’t add up. It’s going to affect our region pretty greatly.”