Staffing Shortage at Austin Airport Leads to Delays and Safety Concerns, FAA Enacts Traffic Management

Travelers were hit with delays at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) as air traffic control staffing shortages led to an average 36-minute wait time for arriving flights. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had to introduce a “traffic management program,” effectively slowing down arriving air traffic until 11 p.m. This information was brought to light in statements from the FAA used in a

KVUE report

. Amid the delays, passengers were urged to check with AUS or their respective airlines to get updates on flight arrivals.

Understaffing at AUS isn’t a newfound issue; it has persisted over the past year. An airport spokesperson highlighted to

KVUE

that as of August 1st, there was an 18% vacancy rate, a notable improvement from a 38% gap noticed in January 2023. Even as the airport grows, with expansion efforts underway to accommodate increased passenger traffic, filling these vacancies has proven challenging, with 121 openings in “various stages of the recruitment process.”

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, expressed his concern over the situation, emphasizing the safety implications of the staffing shortage. In a statement to

KXAN

, Doggett mentioned that the FAA failed to inform AUS about the delays promptly, calling the lack of transparency “unacceptable.” Doggett zeroed in on the significance by

stating

, “This is a really serious matter today. It causes inconvenience. It may mean that people miss their connection, but the bigger problem is the safety problem if we don’t have adequate air traffic controllers.”

The Austin Airport has strategies in place to mitigate the vacancy issues, including increasing its dependence on third-party contractors for airport services. Despite these changes, the demand for more air traffic controllers remains high. The FAA has been pushed to take immediate action. Concerned passengers were directed to view airport status information on the FAA’s website to check for any delays towards their destinations.

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