NATCA Bookshelf

ISSUES National Air Traffic Controllers Association | www.natca.org NiW Today 23 of top-line numbers and the annual appropriations process. However, the FAA has repeatedly requested inadequate funding levels, contributing to significant backlogs of NAS system sustainment and ATC facility sustainment, growing delays in the implementation of NAS modernization and system improvements, and delayed air traffic control (ATC) tower and radar facility replacement. FAA's Facilities & Equipment Budget Requires Robust Funding Levels FAA's budgets have not kept up with inflation over the past 15 years. For instance, the FAA consistently requested roughly $3 billion in annual appropriations for F&E, even though in the Agency's internal budgetary estimates showed that it needed at least $4.5 billion in FY 2024. This loss of spending and buying power for F&E programs forced the FAA into a "fix-on-fail" model by requiring it to prioritize mandatory costs, leaving little to no money for modernization and infrastructure programs. However, the FAA's FY 2025 F&E budget request, for the first time in over a decade, acknowledged the Agency's true need. Congress funded $4 billion for F&E and supplemented that with $1 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which will expire after FY 2026. For FY 2027, the FAA will need over $5.5 billion. Last year, after the administration requested a significant increase in its overall funding levels, Congress passed an operations budget of $13.4 billion from the 2024 CR level of $12.7 billion. The FAA's FY 2026 operations budget also must continue to increase to account for the agency's plan to hire 2,500 additional controller trainees and customary cost-of-living adjustments. To maintain aviation safety, efficiency, and capacity, the FAA's future budget requests must account for current and future funding needs to prevent further budget shortfalls that could jeopardize hiring, training, modernization, sustainment of critical equipment and programs, and physical infrastructure. The Agency must continue to be transparent with its rapidly increasing need for F&E funding so that it can meet its own equipment sustainment, replacement, and modernization needs. Failing to maintain and replace critical safety equipment that has exceeded its expected life harms the NAS because it introduces unnecessary risk into the system. Controller Hiring & Training Requires Sustained Funding NATCA continues to partner with the administration and Congress to improve the system-wide controller staffing shortage. A properly-staffed controller workforce is necessary in order to safely and efficiently meet all of its operational, statutory, and contractual requirements, while also having the personnel resources to research, develop, deploy, and then train the existing workforce on new processes, technology, and modernization initiatives. Short staffing leads to fatigue, which greatly affects controllers and the system. Until recently, the FAA had not kept up with air traffic controller attrition as a result of missing its hiring targets for much of the last decade. Fortunately, the FAA has met or exceeded its air traffic controller trainee hiring targets for four consecutive years, and plans to hire 2,500 new controller trainees in FY 2026. These improvements have resulted in some progress, but the FAA will need to sustain its commitment to maximum controller hiring for many years into the future to see positive, tangible results in controller staffing levels. Issue FAA Funding Requires Robust Authorization and Appropriations Levels

• Cover