WEBVTT - Here's Why There's a Shortage of Air Traffic Controllers

0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:10.319
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. I'm Stephen Carroll, and

0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:12.680
<v Speaker 1>this is Here's Why, where we take one news story

0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:14.720
<v Speaker 1>and explain it in just a few minutes with our

0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:20.599
<v Speaker 1>experts here at Bloomberg. I don't want to travel in

0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:22.040
<v Speaker 1>the air. I mean, this is part of the problem.

0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:23.880
<v Speaker 1>We just had the worst crash since two thousand and

0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.600
<v Speaker 1>nine on January twenty ninth over DC airspace. It seems

0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.200
<v Speaker 1>like we are seeing more and more air crashes.

0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.680
<v Speaker 2>I think we are seeing more operations that aren't going

0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:34.440
<v Speaker 2>as they should.

0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:36.520
<v Speaker 3>It feels like a miracle that these people were able

0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.960
<v Speaker 3>to leave this plane and there was no fatalities.

0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.760
<v Speaker 1>It's been a difficult few months for the aviation industry.

0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.720
<v Speaker 1>A space of midair incidents, botched landings, and near misses

0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.120
<v Speaker 1>has brought safety concerns to the four Flying is still

0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:52.760
<v Speaker 1>one of the safest modes of transports, with far fewer

0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.800
<v Speaker 1>deaths per passenger mild than travel by car, ferry or train,

0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:59.840
<v Speaker 1>but events like the mid air collision over Washington, DC

0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.720
<v Speaker 1>in January have prompted Donald Trump, among others, to promise action.

0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.880
<v Speaker 3>My administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety.

0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.920
<v Speaker 3>We have to have our smartest people. It doesn't matter

0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.160
<v Speaker 3>what they look like, how they speak, who they are

0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:19.039
<v Speaker 3>matters intellect, talent the word talent. They have to be talented,

0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.000
<v Speaker 3>naturally talented geniuses.

0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.679
<v Speaker 1>Experts have voiced concerns that air traffic control staffing may

0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.160
<v Speaker 1>have played a role in the Washington crash, and it

0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:30.000
<v Speaker 1>reflects a wider problem in the industry around the world.

0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:36.840
<v Speaker 1>Here's why there's a shortage of air traffic controllers. Our

0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.039
<v Speaker 1>transport reporter Danny Lee joins me now for more. Danny,

0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.360
<v Speaker 1>First of all, how widespread is this shortage?

0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:45.920
<v Speaker 2>Stephen? Virtually in every corner of the world, there is

0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.880
<v Speaker 2>a shortage of air traffic controllers. In the United States,

0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:51.400
<v Speaker 2>the short full stands at three thousand, five hundred air

0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:56.000
<v Speaker 2>traffic controllers, and that's with almost eleven thousand already on duty.

0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.200
<v Speaker 2>In Europe, that number is closer to two thousand out

0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.200
<v Speaker 2>of nineteen thives in the ranks at the moment. So

0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.760
<v Speaker 2>the numbers don't lie when you look closer at the

0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.880
<v Speaker 2>decline of air traffic controllers employed around the world, and

0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.359
<v Speaker 2>in a snapshot of some major countries that we've taken

0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.320
<v Speaker 2>a look at. So that's the UK the US, Germany, France,

0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.960
<v Speaker 2>and Spain. These are some of the big countries with

0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:20.040
<v Speaker 2>airtraf controllers and have a lot of airflight activity. Since

0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.720
<v Speaker 2>twenty eleven, that number has actually fallen in terms of

0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.840
<v Speaker 2>headcount or just not grow at all, and that data

0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:30.120
<v Speaker 2>is remarkable against the backdrop of there may have been

0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:34.040
<v Speaker 2>advancements in technology to improve the efficiency of the role

0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.040
<v Speaker 2>of an aircraft controller, but the pace and the growth

0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.000
<v Speaker 2>of air travel overtime has made the role of an

0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:44.400
<v Speaker 2>aircraft controller busier than ever, and especially dealing with perhaps

0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.320
<v Speaker 2>a more global complex environment, whether it be related to

0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:51.000
<v Speaker 2>the climate or geopolitics. So clearly, for the role of

0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.679
<v Speaker 2>an aircraft controller day to day, they have to navigate

0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:57.280
<v Speaker 2>a whole list of issues that crop up, and it's

0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.399
<v Speaker 2>not getting any easier when the growth of aircraft has

0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.160
<v Speaker 2>been going up and up and up.

0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.799
<v Speaker 1>So then what practical effects does a shortage of air

0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:08.440
<v Speaker 1>traffic controllers have on those of us that want to

0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:09.240
<v Speaker 1>get on planes.

0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.760
<v Speaker 2>There are more delays, frankly, that air passengers face if

0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.560
<v Speaker 2>there are just not enough air traffic controllers on duty.

0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.240
<v Speaker 2>In some extreme cases we have seen in the places

0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.400
<v Speaker 2>like the United States, airports such as Newark and New

0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.160
<v Speaker 2>Jersey airlines have being forced to cut back on on

0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.560
<v Speaker 2>their flight schedules during some of the peak travel periods

0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.160
<v Speaker 2>because there are just not enough air traff controllers to

0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.280
<v Speaker 2>handle the volumes of planes wishing to come in and

0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.680
<v Speaker 2>out of that airport. And that is mirrored when you

0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.440
<v Speaker 2>look at other partstored particularly in Europe, where there have

0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.840
<v Speaker 2>been warnings over recent years that during the peak summer

0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.720
<v Speaker 2>period they just will not have enough manpower in order

0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.400
<v Speaker 2>to cope with the volumes of traffic that there is.

0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.760
<v Speaker 2>So clearly there is a growing problem and with the

0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.880
<v Speaker 2>number of air traffic controllers employed, there is a challenge

0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.840
<v Speaker 2>there on how to cope with that growth aviation and

0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:01.480
<v Speaker 2>their travel.

0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.640
<v Speaker 1>Does it have consequences for safety?

0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.200
<v Speaker 2>I think there is a concern, a lingering concern that

0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.480
<v Speaker 2>with the most recent accent that took place in Washington,

0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.720
<v Speaker 2>DC that brought into question the role of air traffic

0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.440
<v Speaker 2>controllers and the shortage that were there was at the

0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:22.720
<v Speaker 2>time that this accent could happen again if people are

0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.840
<v Speaker 2>not careful. And in the United States there has been

0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.359
<v Speaker 2>an increase in concern of the shortfall of air traffic

0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:33.240
<v Speaker 2>controllers and the likes of the Trump administration now trying

0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.880
<v Speaker 2>to take action to boost the number of staff on

0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:39.520
<v Speaker 2>duty and to improve the aviation infrastructure as a whole.

0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.760
<v Speaker 2>And clearly safety is paramount in aviation, and so a

0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.480
<v Speaker 2>lot of concern around the world about can the aviation

0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:51.320
<v Speaker 2>industry cope with the levels of growth and with some

0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:53.800
<v Speaker 2>parts of the system actually breaking down like that.

0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.760
<v Speaker 1>What are the important reasons behind there being a shortage

0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.000
<v Speaker 1>in this particular role of air traffic controls.

0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:06.120
<v Speaker 2>Well, during COVID there was an increasing number of staff

0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.120
<v Speaker 2>that had retired from from the various organizations that manage

0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.080
<v Speaker 2>the industry, and on top of that, there was not

0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.640
<v Speaker 2>enough training put in in order to allow the number

0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.760
<v Speaker 2>of people who were retiring to be replaced. And one

0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.440
<v Speaker 2>of the more challenging things for these authorities was the

0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.200
<v Speaker 2>fact that when you are socially distant, you cannot train

0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.120
<v Speaker 2>in close quarters. So training stopped. A lot of the

0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.800
<v Speaker 2>priorities at the same time were shifting focus, particularly as

0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.880
<v Speaker 2>air traffic demand collapsed, and so we have seen this

0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.920
<v Speaker 2>this backlog of training that has not been taking place,

0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.560
<v Speaker 2>and only now in the recent several months, and so

0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.760
<v Speaker 2>there has been an improvement in terms of backfilling these roles,

0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:51.480
<v Speaker 2>but still we have a long way to go, particularly

0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.000
<v Speaker 2>in the likes of the United States, where they have

0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:58.159
<v Speaker 2>seen a huge understaffing in some of its major air

0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.359
<v Speaker 2>traffic control centers and so there's a lot of catchup

0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.400
<v Speaker 2>going on. But it takes years, up to free years

0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:08.320
<v Speaker 2>in some cases for air traffic controllers to be trained properly,

0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.080
<v Speaker 2>and so this is not a quick fix when you

0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.440
<v Speaker 2>think about the training, because there is a multi stage

0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:14.839
<v Speaker 2>process along the way.

0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.440
<v Speaker 1>Okay, our transport reporter Danny Lee, thank you. For more

0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.320
<v Speaker 1>explanations like this from our team of three thousand journalists

0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.760
<v Speaker 1>and analysts around the world, go to bloomberg dot com

0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:28.320
<v Speaker 1>slash explainers. I'm Stephen Carroll. This is here's why. I'll

0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.440
<v Speaker 1>be back next week with more. Thanks for listening.