Funds Sought to Hire More Air Controllers

Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole asked Congress on Thursday for more money to expand the nation’s aviation system and hire more air traffic controllers.

Citing “rapid evolution” caused by the deregulation of the airline industry and the need to expand the air system, Dole asked for a 68% budget increase next year, from $805 million to $1.35 billion, in money for equipment such as air traffic control computers and special radar to warn pilots of sudden wind shears.

She asked for a 20% increase, to $5.8 billion, in the Federal Aviation Administration’s 1988 operating budget. But she renewed the Administration effort to shift the source of the FAA’s funding from tax dollars to user fees paid by airlines and air passengers.

225 More Controllers

The proposed legislation, a two-year reauthorization of the FAA, would increase the number of air traffic controllers from the 1987 goal of 15,000 to 15,225 by the end of fiscal 1988. It would increase the force of safety inspectors to 2,198 from 2,020.

The Administration proposal, called the Airport and Airway Enhancement Act of 1987, provides no new money in grants to airports for physical improvements, but it restructures the $1-billion program to provide more money to the most overburdened airports.