(The Associated Press circulated the following story on August 13.)
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A plan that could lead to private companies operating air traffic control towers at nearly 70 airports would jeopardize safety, controllers from two suburban St. Louis airports said Wednesday.
Controllers at Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield and Parks Downtown St. Louis Airport in Cahokia, Ill., held a news conference at Spirit to express concerns about the plan pending before Congress.
Both airports are among 69 nationwide that could be turned over to private operation under a plan approved last month by a joint House and Senate conference committee. Congress is expected to consider the proposal after its summer recess.
Springfield-Branson Regional Airport is not among those on the list of facilities that could be privatized. The facility is too large, carries too much traffic, and serves to control air traffic in a large area of Missouri.
Missouri’s two senators, Republicans Kit Bond and Jim Talent, voted in June against the privatization of federal air traffic controllers’ jobs. The House passed anti-privatization legislation as part of a broader aviation spending bill, which was backed by the Missouri delegation except for Democratic Rep. Dick Gephardt, who didn’t vote.
Already, 219 smaller airports around the country are operated by contract companies. The proposal would allow contractors to supplant Federal Aviation Administration controllers at additional airports – including 11 that are among the nation’s 50 busiest – that do not use radar, relying on visual assessments for control.
FAA spokesman Elizabeth Cory noted that both Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and FAA administrator Marion Blakey have said privatization of additional towers is not planned, but the agency wants the flexibility to consider it down the road. And she downplayed safety concerns.
“The president of the United States uses contract towers when he goes home to Texas,” Cory said.
She said all contract controllers are certified by the FAA, many of them are former FAA and military controllers, and the agency monitors contract towers closely.
“We feel they’re very, very safe,” Cory said.
Raymond Kerr, who heads the air traffic controllers union at Spirit, disagreed.
“With any private company, their motive is profit,” Kerr said. “Our motive is safety. When it comes to safety, that’s not for sale.”
Scott Sellers, head of the controllers union at Parks, said private companies have been cutting back at smaller airports in Illinois, raising concerns about overworked and overstressed controllers.
At some contract towers, “It’s a practice when guys can’t leave because they’re by themselves that they have to go to the bathroom in a trash can,” Sellers said. “We’re not worried about our jobs – we would get transferred to other jobs. This is a safety issue.”
Cory said a report by the Inspector General’s office gave high marks to contract towers.
Twelve controllers work at Spirit in west St. Louis County, where about 150,000 planes take off and land each year. Ten controllers work at Parks, handling about 165,000 flights.
Both airports generally handle smaller planes, corporate jets, air ambulances, etc.
Kerr read a letter from a pilot grateful for a Spirit controller who helped guide down his plane after it experienced mechanical problems.
“That’s what you get when you have an experienced, well-trained work force that you don’t get from an $8-an-hour air traffic controller,” Kerr said.