Aviation groups are throwing support behind several bipartisan efforts underway in Washington, DC to ensure air traffic controllers do not go unpaid during future government shutdowns.
The moves follow the USA’s recent 43-day federal government closure, during which a controller shortage became acute, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to order airlines to cancel flights.
Several legislative fixes have been proposed, including a bill released on 18 November that would allow the FAA to pay controllers during a shutdown from funds housed within a little-used insurance programme called the Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund.
That fund, with a balance of about $2.6 billion, covers airlines’ insurance claims for damages incurred when flying wartime missions under the USA’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet programme.
The bill to tap the fund for controllers during shutdowns was introduced by House of Representatives’ transportation committee chair Sam Graves and the committee’s leading Democrat, Rick Larsen.
On 19 November, Republican Congressman Troy Nehls, chair of the transportation committee’s aviation panel, said House lawmakers could review and approve such a measure in December. The bill would then need Senate approval.
“This account is there. It’s dormant. We haven’t used it in years,” says Nehls. “Why wouldn’t we do that?”
Separately, two bills now working through the House and Senate call for the FAA’s operations, including ATC, to be funded during shutdowns using money from the Airport & Airway Trust Fund.
The FAA already uses that fund, which houses aviation tax revenue, to pay for ATC and other operations. But under current law the agency requires congressional approval (via appropriations bills) to both collect the taxes and spend the money.
US government shutdowns occur when lawmakers fail to agree to appropriations bills. The recent closure ended on 12 November.
The Modern Skies Coalition, a group of dozens of aviation companies and trade groups, has thrown its support behind both proposed legislative fixes.
“There is no reason aviation should be subjected to shutdowns that result from Washington’s inability to come to consensus on funding bills,” the coalition says in a 19 November letter to Congress. “The time for this common sense and critical legislation is now.”
Coalition members include Airbus, Boeing, GE Aerospace, Air Line Pilots Association and other labour groups, and numerous trade associations, including Airlines for America and IATA.
