AFA Statement for House T&I Subcommittee Hearing on ATC
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 4, 2025) — The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Aviation Subcommittee convened a hearing titled "Air Traffic Control System Infrastructure and Staffing" at 10:00 am ET on Tuesday, March 5, 2025. AFA submitted a statement for the record.
Chair Nehls and Ranking Member Cohen,
The safety and efficiency of our nation’s Air Traffic Control system is vitally important to Flight Attendants. We count on the highly trained experts who guide our flights through safe departure, cruise altitude, and landing. As aviation’s first responders we are charged with the safety, health, and security of all passengers and crew on our flight. And, we promise our own families that we will come home safely too. Aviation safety is personal to us, just as it is for tens of thousands of the federal workers who take part in helping us keep the promise to our families and the loved ones of the people in our care.
Aviation safety is the product of hundreds of thousands of workers - from engineers to mechanics to safety inspectors, security officers, pilots, gate agents, baggage handlers, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers - asking all day long “is it safe?” We ask this question with the information we have from tragic moments of gaps in safety and promises to the memory of those we’ve lost, and the families with whom we grieve, that it will never happen again. This starts with supporting a thorough investigation, continues with advocacy for reform, and lives forever in our repeated analysis all day long - “is it safe?”
Aviation is the safest mode of transportation because we demand it and we built a system that allows us to predict risk, produce redundancies, and fill holes to keep tragedy at bay. The FAA holds the statutory mandate to ensure the highest degree of aviation safety. We support the efforts of the Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee to provide critical oversight and demand for implementation of plans to recruit, train, and staff while modernizing and rebuilding the infrastructure necessary to fully staff and resource the experts on the frontlines who guide our planes safely. Less than two weeks ago, our union signed a letter with groups representing the entire aviation industry stating, “we are aligned on not pursuing privatization of U.S. air traffic control services and believe it would be a distraction from these needed investments and reforms.”
As safety professionals our training teaches that the first rule in safety is to remove all distractions. Our industry has been through many ups and downs. We cannot control the weather, but we can commit to steady funding, no shutdowns, the highest standards, broad recruitment including the promise of good, steady jobs, and working with the people on the frontlines who know the system best, how to fix it, what it lacks, and what it needs. The voices of the professionals represented at this hearing from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists are critically important to plan and properly implement modernization, recruitment, and training. Listen to them today, and every day.
Aviation is safe due to the work of those you see on the frontlines and every person doing work in support of those jobs. FAA specialists are responsible for repairing air traffic control facilities and updating digital maps for pilots. Meteorologists provide critical reports that help navigate safe flights and avoid the dangers of turbulence that range in harm from air sickness and coffee burns to serious injury and even death. Recent layoffs and firings of our federal workforce introduce unnecessary risk and stress that distracts from the mission of safe flight for civil and military operations. Chaotic workplaces harm recruitment, training and retention of critical personnel. The 35-day government shutdown of 2019 and all of the short-term funding bills or continued resolutions harmed staffing, recruitment, training, retention, facility maintenance, and modernization. Do everything in your power to avoid these disruptions and distractions going forward.
We applaud and support this Committee’s focus on the safest, most efficient National Airspace System in the world. Safety and security doesn’t just happen. It is the product of our collective mission to make it happen. We encourage you to continue to look to the experts on the frontlines, promote sufficient and steady funding to staff, maintain, and modernize our workplace. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is committed to fulfilling this mission with you and all of our partners in aviation safety, health, and security.
Thank you and fly safe,
Sara Nelson
International President
