LA Airport Needs More Air Controllers

April 28, 2009

The Los Angeles International Airport, one of the busiest in the US, is losing air traffic controllers since most of them have already reached their retirement age. To close the gap, the Federal Aviation Administration (FFA) decided to hire new trainees while giving higher salaries to retain veteran controllers.

Despite such aggressive hiring and bigger compensation to retain experienced controllers, the Department of Transportation said FAA should further increase the number of its air controller staff to accommodate the growing number of passengers in the state of California.

The department also urged FFA officials to provide more incentives and financial benefits to experienced controllers. According to reports, overtime payment for this job has increased by 900 percent since 2007.

Meanwhile, local FFA spokesman Ian Gregor admitted that bolstering the number of air controller staff is a challenging task, but said they are prepared to close the gap as air safety and security is the number one priority of their agency.

According to a recent report, there were more than 2.25 million flights last year in Southern California Center, making this the busiest airfield in the country. Despite this huge number of flights, its controller staff is decreasing year after year.

In 2008, there were only 161 controllers in the center compared to 236 staff four years ago.