|
 |
DOT 103-06
Monday, October 30, 2006
Contact: Brian Turmail
Tel.: (202) 366-4570
U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SAYS NEW APPROACH NEEDED TO FINANCE NEW AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS AND SAFETY EQUIPMENT IN ORDER TO KEEP PACE WITH GROWTH IN
AIR TRAFFIC
With Congress poised to consider FAA reauthorization legislation next year, U.S.
Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters today said she will listen to all
members of the aviation community as her agency grapples with how best to
finance new air traffic controllers and equipment investments needed to keep
pace with surging traffic in the system.
During a day-long aviation tour in Kansas, the Secretary said she would “listen
to everyone as we work on this important legislation,” and called on lawmakers,
aviation industry leaders and union officials to come together to develop a
solution. “We must rethink the aviation financing system,” she added.
Secretary Peters, who traveled to Wichita, Kan., to meet with general aviation
leaders and tour a Cessna aircraft assembly plant, said the expected delivery of
thousands of new, very light jets being made by companies like Cessna would lead
to the largest increase in air traffic since the 1960s.
During a visit later in the day to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air
traffic control facility in Olathe, Kan., the Secretary added that the growth in
air traffic was occurring just as thousands of air traffic controllers were
getting set to retire. As a result, she said the federal government has plans in
place to hire 11,800 new controllers over the next 10 years.
New technology also is needed to ensure that incoming air traffic controllers
can safely handle the increase in air traffic, Peters said. She noted that the
FAA planned to install new satellite-based tracking equipment that would allow
for greater precision, but that “the best plans and the most ambitious schedules
won’t mean a thing without a way to pay for it.”
She called on aviation leaders, including representatives of Wichita’s general
aviation aircraft manufacturers, and air traffic controllers’ union president
Pat Forrey, with whom she met during her visit to Olathe, to suggest
improvements to the current system. “We must be open minded as we tackle the
tough issues before us. Ultimately, the ideas are going to come from assembly
lines, break rooms and work stations here in Kansas and across the nation.”