A new and generous incentive package is drawing strong interest in three vacant air traffic control positions at the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport tower.
The tower, which is controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration, has struggled to draw and retain employees because of the area’s high cost of living, a declining pay scale and a system that assigns small rural airports like Aspen’s to the bottom of the salary range. The revolving door of controllers has meant that the tower is often staffed less than ideally, and that existing staff work a fair amount of overtime.
Recognition of these issues in a handful of similar markets, such as Nantucket, Massachusetts, and Alaska, led the FAA to develop a package of financial incentives to lure veteran controllers to those areas. And it seems to be working.
A fully certified controller can expect to earn between $43,800 and $59,000 in the Aspen tower — a figure that includes a 13.18 percent “locality adjustment” for the Aspen commuting area, according to the FAA’s job announcement. (This percentage happens to be the lowest tier of locality pay in the country, essentially due to the size and average amount of traffic of the Aspen airport.)
Additionally, controllers hired to Aspen will receive a one-time relocation payment of $27,000, and will be eligible for a relocation incentive equal to 25 percent of their annual salaries that can be paid out over four years but cannot exceed $75,000.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said that it is highly unlikely that anyone eligible for the full $75,000 relocation incentive would apply to Aspen, because his or her current salary is likely much higher than he or she would earn at the Aspen tower, even with the bonus.
Still, the healthy incentive package — which also includes a clause that allows employees of higher-paid facilities to retain their higher salaries — is drawing qualified controllers, which wasn’t happening before.
“It’s created a lot of interest,” said Wayne Hall, a fully certified controller in the Aspen tower who is also the local union representative. “People want to live in Aspen and be air traffic controllers, but they just didn’t think they could afford it. Now (the FAA is) offering a lot of incentives.” Hall noted that the loose structure of the incentive package “leaves them a lot of flexibility to make offers to people. I’ve talked to several people interested in this bid who’d make a good fit.”
The application process closed July 8. No one interviewed for this article was able to confirm exactly how many people have applied for the positions, or when the new controllers will come on board.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, or NATCA, has been agitating for better pay since the imposition nearly two years ago of a contract unfavorable to the union (the one that imposed the declining pay scale).
Hall, who represents the union, said that while he is happy the three open controller slots in Aspen will be filled with people being paid fairly well, there’s “still nothing to help the people already assigned here.”
Hall said he could think of two or three people working in the Aspen tower earning the old pay scale who might be struggling financially but are not allowed to transfer to a different facility due to the staff shortages. In some cases, he said, someone less qualified who is hired to come to Aspen might earn more with this incentive package than a more qualified controller already here.
There are also FAA rules governing worker fatigue that do not make it easy for controllers to get second jobs. Further, a controller’s schedule might change every week, and some lower-level controllers use their time off to study for their next-level certifications.
“We need people here, but this doesn’t address the cost of living in Aspen,” said Hall.
FAA spokesman Fergus said that he doesn’t know of any remedies being discussed for existing controllers. But he does believe that after the four-year incentive period ends, new controllers will earn enough money through cost-of-living and merit raises, plus higher certification, to afford to stay. He also said that having those open positions filled is perhaps the first step towards allowing controllers who feel that they can’t afford to stay to leave, then refilling those positions using another incentive-based program.
lutz@aspendailynews.com
