Air traffic control staffing crisis continues during Chicago-area holiday travel

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A snapshot of how many planes are in the sky can show how chaotic the nation's air traffic control sector is during the holidays.

More people traveling means more planes in the air, all requiring Federal Aviation Administration controllers in the towers and on radar decks at O'Hare, Midway and the regional Chicago Center in Aurora.

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For decades, there has been a shortage of air traffic controllers, and that continues this holiday season, along with concerns about safety and congestion.

One by one at O'Hare airport late Tuesday, jetliners ferried Thanksgiving travelers. This week, 1.8 million passengers will pass through O'Hare and Midway. That is an increase of more than 11% compared with last year.

But, in the control towers, staffing is not up. It's down. At the regional Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora, where planes across the Midwest are sequenced and separated, current staffing is only at 82%, according to the union representing controllers.

"We would love to be 100% staff; that's for sure," said Toby Hauck, president of the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and Illinois-based air traffic controllers from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

The FAA has been working toward that for decades, but, this year, a new federal funding package offers fresh hope.

"We have about 100 trainees in the system here at Chicago center. And with those numbers, as they certify, our numbers will increase. It just takes time for that to increase," Hauck said. "There's a training period of about three years at Chicago center, from the time you walk in the door to the time that you're a controller, working by yourself."

More controllers are needed because there are more planes in the air. But the reason for that might be surprising.

"The airlines have been contributing to the problem because they want to fly smaller planes more frequently because passengers want that. That crowds the airspace even more. In other words, you don't want two flights a day to your destination; you want six. But you can't fly large planes six times a day. You can fly smaller planes six times a day, and they will be filled," said Sheldon H. Jacobson, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Even with recent federal investigations citing controller fatigue and poor plans to fix the problem, experts say the system is remarkably safe.

"I'm not concerned about safety. I'm more concerned about the fact that we're doing the same thing over and over again," Professor Jacobson told the I-Team. "Artificial Intelligence exists today, and it did not exist the way it did just 10 years ago. Can we use that to at least download some of these important tasks? And my belief is we can, but we have to do it judiciously, slowly and thoughtfully."

Chicago-based United Airlines is out with an unusually forceful message to the FAA about how controller shortages are causing acute flight disruptions and cancellations, especially at United's major hub in Newark. United is citing 343,000 customers disrupted or canceled this month alone because Newark doesn't have enough controllers. A contentious statement just in from the FAA blames weather and airline operations for most delays.