FAA Administrator Michael Huerta testified in front of the House Aviation Subcommittee regarding the potential impact of sequester upon the FAA.
Josh Solomon/Medill
WASHINGTON — Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Huerta warned Wednesday that if mandatory federal budget cuts go into effect as scheduled Friday, the FAA likely would furlough employees, delaying flights at airports around the country.
Huerta was expected to testify before a House aviation subcommittee on the implementation of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, passed one year ago this month. However, given the impending sequestration, as the mandatory cuts are called, the committee chose to mostly question Huerta on how the agency would meet its new budgetary restrictions.
Huerta said the FAA’s first priority is safety and it will not allow the cuts to jeopardize the safety of the National Airspace System. For that reason, if sequestration comes to pass, Huerta told the committee to expect control tower closures and delays at major airfields.
A very large portion of the Department of Transportation, under which the FAA falls, is exempt from the sequester, and so the FAA will absorb more than 60 percent of the cuts, Huerta said. The sequester is a required, $85 billion across-the-board budget cut for government agencies and departments that would starting Friday if Congress does not take action to stop it
The FAA’s annual budget is about $16 billion, and the cut to funding mandated by the sequester would represent a reduction of about $627 million, setting FAA funding levels back to those of 2008.
Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., did not see the cuts as being devastating. “What’s so different about 2008 from today? You’re not going back that far,” Graves said. “The sky isn’t falling. I don’t see that much changing to be quite honest with you.”
“I don’t see a way to get to the $627 million [of total cuts] without the suggested furloughs,” Huerta said.
He said the “vast majority” of the FAA’s 47,000 employees could be furloughed one to two days per bi-weekly pay period. Seventy percent of the FAA’s operations budget is dedicated to salaries and benefits.
The first step to meeting the budget restrictions would be to implement a hiring freeze, followed by taking a second look at contracts the FAA holds with third parties, he said. The third largest contract is with the Air Traffic Organization which operates low-traffic control towers and employs traffic controllers, technicians and engineers. The $7.4 billion a year contract would be cut by $370 million.
Of the 238 towers affected by sequester-related cuts, 189 of them are contracted to ATO, Huerta said.
Additionally, Huerta said the FAA is preparing to eliminate midnight shifts at over 60 towers and close over 100 towers at airports with fewer than 150,000 annual flight operations or 10,000 annual commercial operations.
“These are very significant cuts and we need to cut the lowest activity towers in order to maintain the maximum benefit for the maximum number of travelers,” Huerta said.
Huerta used Chicago O’Hare International Airport as an example. O’Hare, one of the busiest airports in the country, is unique in that it has two control towers. The FAA is considering closing the Northern tower, which Huerta said will effectively stop operations on one of O’Hare’s runways. Also, Midway Airport, Chicago’s second largest airport, could face a midnight shutdown of its control tower.
“We are always going to air on the side of safety, which might mean it has a disproportionate impact on efficiency,” Huerta said. “For every facility that we are able to preserve, we need to find a cost saving measure somewhere else.”
