OPINION:
Every single day, each of us relies on our nation’s infrastructure in some way big or small: the roads we drive, the bridges we cross, the shipping channels receiving cargo, and the National Airspace System (NAS) airlines use to safely fly us to destinations across the country and around the world. In fact, U.S. airlines carry 2.3 million passengers and over 65,000 tons of cargo to more than 220 countries daily, all while driving 5% of U.S. GDP.
Two years ago, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law. It comes as little surprise that congressional districts across the country value investment in asphalt, concrete, and other components of what we traditionally think of as “brick and mortar” infrastructure. However, we all must value—and invest in—two additional components, human infrastructure and technology infrastructure.
Nearly 800,000 workers in the U.S. airline industry make it possible to get air travelers to their destinations safely. Last year alone, airlines helped kick-start 50,000 new careers. Our passenger airlines currently boast their largest workforce since 2001. We are proud that these positions are high-quality, career track jobs.
U.S. airlines recognize the importance of securing a pipeline of new employees to accommodate growing demand for air travel across the country and around the globe.
Our growing workforce is the result of sustained aggressive and strategic hiring campaigns over the past of couple years. Airlines understand the importance of investing in our people, which is why we offer competitive pay (37% higher than the average private sector employee) and generous benefits.
To attract new employees, A4A carriers have invested in new pilot training and enhanced recruitment efforts—such as partnering with universities, tapping into communities to increase diversity and implementing programs to address financial hurdles.
Our workers are the backbone of the industry and the heart of our operations. They also are the face of your next trip, ensuring your safety from takeoff to touchdown.
Technology also plays an important and transformational role in our aviation system and allows airplanes to fly safely and more efficiently, impacting nearly every aspect of operations, from flight dispatchers optimizing routes to pilots landing on the runway.
U.S. airlines are estimated to spend a record $25 billion on aircraft, ground equipment, facilities and technology like mobile apps and kiosks to better communicate with customers about their flight and allow a touchless experience.
More than 60% of flyers used mobile devices for boarding passes last year alone. Travelers are encouraged to use touchless technology for check-in, flight status, baggage tracking, food and beverage selection, entertainment and more.
These investments have been supplemented by U.S. airports’ own investments, supported predominantly by rents, landing fees, parking fees, concessions, ticket taxes and other revenues generated from airlines and their customers.
Airlines do not operate alone in the NAS. Our airspace is utilized by general aviation, military exercises, and space launches. FAA air traffic controllers (ATC) keep vigilant over the skies and logistically manage every taxi, takeoff and landing for airlines and other operators.
Unfortunately, the FAA’s system has been squeaking by for years as air traffic control modernization efforts have not kept pace with technological advancement and in many cases run past deadlines and over budget. For example, many FAA control facilities still use the same paper strip system of the 1970s. In addition, the FAA’s traffic flow management and planning tool, the Traffic Flow Management System, is outdated and cannot support capabilities moving forward. The FAA is struggling to maintain and sustain legacy ATC systems while operationalizing modernization priorities consistently lack the attention and investment necessary to truly modernize our aviation system not only to meet the needs of existing users but also the demands of the future.
While the lagging modernization efforts may be the topic of “behind the scenes” discussions on most days, recent incidents have provided public examples of the consequences of simply maintaining and sustaining legacy systems. On January 11, 2023, the FAA issued the first nationwide ground stop since 9/11 due to an outage of its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. Airlines and airports struggled to manage all the compacted demand and recovering diversions. This disruption came on the heels of an ATC system failure in South Florida on January 2nd and put a national spotlight on the dire need to update the lagging technological infrastructure being used by the FAA, the nation’s federal regulator of the NAS.
Funding levels for FAA capital programs have been stagnant for more than a decade and have not kept up with inflation, and ATC staffing shortages have had a direct impact on consumers. For example, because the crucial ATC facility responsible for managing the flow of arrival, departure, and enroute traffic in the New York area was only staffed at 54%, in March, the FAA was forced to ask airlines to cut 10% of their operations in that area. Airlines have complied in order to keep the system as safe as possible, but regretfully this comes at a cost to the flying public by arbitrarily trimming schedules ahead of the busy summer travel season. Aviation consumers deserve a better return on their investment.
Our country and world depend too much on commercial aviation to be held back by these challenges. It is time to expand our perception of infrastructure beyond brick-and-mortar buildings and understand that investments in people and technology are also critical infrastructure in modern times.
We are encouraged that Congress agrees, and we remain hopeful this year’s FAA reauthorization will make meaningful investments in our national airspace infrastructure so we can continue to operate not only the safest airspace in the world but also the most efficient.
• Rebecca Spicer is Senior Vice President of Communications at Airlines for America (A4A), which promotes safety, security and a healthy U.S. airline industry. A4A works collaboratively with airlines, labor, Congress, the Administration and other groups to improve aviation for the traveling and shipping public.
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