AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is undergoing improvements worth billions of dollars, but still lacks sufficient air traffic controllers, or ATCs, according to one of Austin’s congressional representatives.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said that he recently met with AUS air traffic controllers and with a representative from the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA.
“We have some more trainees coming in, but we don’t have the controllers that we need. We’re still at less than half the number that the FAA recommends for safety. There’s not the margin of safety,” Doggett said.
KXAN reached out to the FAA with questions about the AUS’ tower staffing.
More than 14,000 ATCs work in the US, according to the FAA, which supervises that workforce. Airports, including AUS, are not in charge of staffing their air traffic towers.
Currently, the agency is not taking applications for new ATCs.
“Our controllers are overworked and understaffed. We’ve had six near misses at the Austin airport. I don’t want the seventh one to be a catastrophe because of the failure to provide enough air traffic controllers,” Doggett said.