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FAA, union agree on brand-new rest guidelines for air-traffic controllers

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday it had struck a deal with an employee union to ensure that airtraffic controllers receive extra rest as the agency handles a staffing lack.

Under existing rules, controllers managing active planes must get a 8- or nine-hour break in between shifts in most instances.

The FAA said controllers will receive 10 hours off task in between shifts and 12 hours off previously and after midnight shifts when the brand-new rules take effect with 2025 schedules to be worked out under the handle the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Controllers will have limitations on the variety of successive overtime projects.

The FAA delayed in May those rules that had been set to take effect in mid-July, due to conversations in between the FAA and NATCA.

The science is clear that controller tiredness is a. public-safety problem, and it should be resolved, FAA. Administrator Mike Whitaker said.

Whitaker commissioned an independent panel in 2015 to. examine controller tiredness, which in April called for compulsory. rest periods after raising major issues.

The National Transport Safety Board has actually opened. examinations into a half lots near-miss events given that. January 2023 that raised concerns about air travel security and the. strain on understaffed air traffic control.

NATCA President Rich Santa stated the union has expressed. issues about controller fatigue for several years.

We enjoy to join with the FAA to execute changes that. will begin to supply relief to this understaffed labor force, he. stated.

At several centers, controllers work mandatory overtime. and six-day work weeks to cover scarcities. The FAA is about. 3,000 controllers behind staffing targets and the agency said. last year it had 10,700 accredited controllers, about the same as. a year previously.

The FAA said in June it was extending cuts to minimum flight. requirements at busy New York City-area airports through. October 2025, saying the variety of controllers dealing with traffic. in New york city is inadequate for normal traffic levels which. without more versatility, blockage, delays, and cancellations. are most likely.

President Joe Biden has actually looked for moneying to hire 2,000. controllers this year.

(source: Reuters)