Hartsfield-Jackson air traffic control tower significantly understaffed, report shows

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Safety is paramount at the world’s busiest airport, but a new congressionally mandated report found a significant staffing shortage inside Atlanta’s air traffic control tower.

Aviation expert Kit Darby expressed deep concern about the new data, which shows that the tower at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is 17% below full staff.

“There’s no doubt that you would want to be fully staffed in a job at this level. You know, this is not a carwash. This is complicated,” Darby said. “You are cheating, basically, by not having enough people and putting the extra pressure on the people that are there. It’s bound to increase their fatigue level. There is an additional scheduling issue. In other words, you have to cover the people that aren’t there.”

According to the report, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hired only about two-thirds of the controllers it projected from 2013 to 2023.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed the issue on Capitol Hill.

“The way Congress spends money, we’re talking $31.5 billion to do the full project,” Duffy said.

The report provides guidance to the FAA about establishing appropriate staffing levels by making improvements in hiring, training, scheduling and fatigue management.

Still, Darby said this is a long-term problem that will take time to solve.

“We would worry if your pilot wasn’t rested, and we would worry if your controller wasn’t rested. If he’s understaffed under an extended period of time, under additional stress of understaffing and advancing schedules, it’s a formula for disaster,” Darby said.