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FAA: No Shortage of STL Air Traffic Controllers Expected

Lambert Airport
(file)
Lambert Airport

By Kevin Lavery, KWMU

St. Louis – The Federal Aviation Administration is surveying St. Louis and some 300 other facilities to make sure the nation's airports remain fully staffed in the coming decade.

Federal officials are expecting 7,100 air traffic controllers to retire by the year 2013.

Lambert Airport in St. Louis currently has 34 controllers, but is authorized for 40.

The FAA's Bill Mumper says the agency does not expect a staffing crisis in St. Louis, and that Lambert's training cycle for new controllers is faster than the national average.

"Here in St. Louis, the training time runs in the ballpark of about a year," Mumper said. "I think throughout the country it's running about 18 months, and I know that in some of the in-route centers, it's over two years."

The FAA mandatory retirement age for air traffic controllers is 56.

The agency will submit a report on staffing needs to Congress in December.

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