Bonnie Watson Coleman Asks FAA Administrator: ‘What Is The Starting Salary For An Air Traffic Controller?’

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During Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) questioned Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau about air traffic control hiring practices.

Transcript

00:00confident. Ms. Watson Coleman. Thank you, sir. Good morning to you. I have a couple of questions

00:13that had to do with the Newark Airport. I also have some questions regarding just air traffic

00:20controllers in general. Could you just tell me, what is the starting salary for an air traffic

00:25controller? So it really depends on the facility, but we bring them in as an academy student in

00:32roughly that 45 to 60,000 range. As I mentioned earlier, we've incentivized new academy people

00:38to join us at 30 percent of that increase. But when you get to a facility, it really depends on

00:44the facility. It can range from anywhere from the 60s and 70s all the way up to a fully certified

00:49professional controller can be in the 145 to 150 range. And that depends upon how large the airport

00:54is, how busy it is. Correct. There's levels. Yes, ma'am. Where is the Newark Airport in that

01:01sort of? I will have to take the IEO on what level the controllers are at Newark. I should know that.

01:08But I do know that that is a well understood for the tower specifically. I'm not sure the level of

01:16the tower there. And then obviously we have the controllers at Philadelphia Area C, which is

01:21controlling some of the incoming to Newark. The problems with the Newark Airport delays.

01:29Yes, ma'am. What percentage of that delay or those delays were due to staffing issues,

01:38staffing shortages? And what percentage of it is due to infrastructure that's old and needs to be

01:44replaced? So there are three primary reasons for the delays. First and foremost is weather,

01:49and that is the constant one. The second is the outages that we were experiencing that we are

01:54working through and fixing now. And then the third is staffing. So staffing continues to be a challenge

02:00for us. I would say that we have 27 certified controllers going that are operating in Philadelphia

02:06Area C now to manage the air traffic going into Newark. And we have 22. We just got six new people

02:12going through training now. So we will be healthier towards the end of this summer for Newark specifically

02:20in that Area C. So I'm confident in that the delays will be reduced for going in there. In fact,

02:27even working with the airlines through our recent delay reduction effort, we will be here shortly and

02:34probably next week at a 34 rate, which we'll be able to manage safely through the air traffic system

02:40with the controllers. So is it infrastructure? Is it congestion? Or is it staffing that is going to

02:51delay Newark being up and up and ready at its capacity? In October, as opposed to July, August, September,

03:03I would say I'm confident that by October timeframe, the technology issues will be resolved. The Secretary's been

03:10very clear with me that we need to fix this. And we're fixing this now. The second piece to that

03:14is the staffing. I think by October, we will be very healthy in there at staffing levels that we need.

03:21And then of course, the weather is always going to be one of those challenges.

03:25So I know, sir, that there were not cuts to the air traffic controllers. But as my colleague mentioned,

03:31there were cuts to staff that support it, those functions. And I'm wondering, to what extent,

03:37I understand that in February, Elon Musk's Doge folks came there with their chainsaw. And as a result,

03:47400 people were let go or went on their own. Is that accurate?

03:52I would clarify by saying that there were 400 probationary employees that were terminated,

03:59360 of which returned to the FAA.

04:02Why did they return?

04:06Because they were, because it was wrong to let them go?

04:11It was a court case. My understanding of the court case ended up having those probationary

04:18employees be returned to duty.

04:19So I know that you've been in service in your capacity for quite a while. Were you at all consulted

04:26when those 400 people were identified to be released?

04:33And did you have any input on whether or not that was going to impact your ability

04:37to do what we all agree is your primary function is to make sure planes don't crash to one another

04:44or run to grounds?

04:46Right. So I certainly was was in the chair. I've been in the chair for four months now.

04:50I was in the chair when those decisions were made and was consulted as to how we were going to manage

04:55through that that period of time. Again, I would say that we we preserved preserved the safety

05:02critical positions. And we made sure that as we were working through the probationary employee

05:08situation that we were managing the workload as it. Again, these folks were there for probably less

05:13than a year, obviously, for the probationary terminations. But at the end of the day, what we did was we

05:20consulted with the leadership teams in each one of those lines of business.

05:23Thank you, Mr. Administrator. Apparently, they are needed, though, in that capacity.

05:27And so I'm glad that they are back. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.

05:31Thank you. Sheriff Rutherford.

05:34Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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