NATCA: Sequestration spells doom
December 17, 2012, 02:11 pm
A recent report by the National Air Traffic Control Association could spell doom for air traffic controllers and the general aviation community if Congress does not avoid sequestration cuts, which would take effect January 2, 2013.
Sequestration would cut the Federal Aviation Administration's funding by 8.2 percent and cause nearly 2,000 to 2,200 air traffic controllers to take furlough time, accounting for nearly 12 percent of the workforce. The effects of the cuts would proliferate into general aviation in many ways, reducing aviation services, capacity and flights, while also negatively impacting airlines, pilots, flight attendants, airport employees, passengers and the many businesses that rely on aviation. The report indicated that aviation contributes nearly $1.3 trillion to the U.S. GDP and supports nearly 10 million jobs.
According to a recent study by the Aerospace Industries Association, if the government were to cut the NextGen budget by $1 billion, the cost to the U.S. economy would be $80 billion a year by 2035. The study also predicted as many as 700,000 jobs would be lost by 2021 in the event of the budget cuts.
Norman Mineta, former Secretary of Transportation, presented a study in August trying to convince Congress to consider a reauthorization act instead of sequestration.The plan looked to modernize and reform programs to certify new aircraft, including unmanned aircraft in civil airspace, and implement the Federal Aviation administration's NextGen initiative. Mineta warned that if the sequestration cuts take place, the aviation sector will lose ground on what it has been working to develop.
"Congress may allow the nation to lose the resources that are needed to make this progress a reality," said Mineta, Federal News Radio reported. "Sequestration will simply evaporate what Congress and the FAA so painstakingly planned to do in the next four years. Sequestration simply makes no sense."
Mineta added that the initial cuts from sequestration would close 246 airport control towers and cause 2,000 TSA screeners and 1,600 customs inspection officers to lose their jobs, as well as the air traffic controllers.
"We're here today because our air transportation system, the envy of the world, is about to fall victim to a political meat cleaver called sequestration," Mineta said. "If I had one message to give to the leaders of both parties in Congress it would be this: Read this report."
With uncertainty placed on the aviation community from sequestration, pilots are encouraged to obtain pilot insurance to align their own finances with the coming storm.
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