Sequestration, “The Act of taking legal possession of assets until a debt has been paid or other claims have been met”. In 2013 March 1, Congress was unable to come to an agreement and the United States has now entered the Sequester. What does this mean? On Aug 2, 2011, members of Congress passed the Budget Control Act, which contained budget cuts. The Sequester will reduce the Budget for 85 billion dollars reducing government funded services throughout the nation. (Dwyer 2013) The Original intent of sequestration was to act as an incentive to help lower the Deficit of United States but it seems to have the reverse affect actually only lower the deficit about 0.5%.(Tatum 2013)
Seeing as how the Sequester directly affects government-funded agencies the question that concerns us is how does the Sequester affect the Aviation industry. Well this means that the Federal Aviation Administration will have to make cuts in its spending due to the reduction of funding. One way the FAA has reported doing this is FAA employees may have to take 11 days of without pay.(Shea 2013) The budget reduction to the FAA and its programs total to 619 million ,which will reduce its workforce and oversight capacity. (ARSA 2013)
Reducing workforce is not the only way the FAA has reduced its 619 million budget during the Sequester. Sequestration has affected General Aviation with closing control towers with less than 150,000 total operations and commercial towers with less than 10,000 the duration of these cuts/closers is Unknown. (Chapman 2013) The effects of these closers will have an adverse reaction to safety of General Aviation, Airlines and Airports. Reducing ATC’s will make it harder for pilots to communicate with one another and will increase the risk of incidents in these areas without a Controller communicating with the masses. “Pilots and Passengers at smaller airports will be looking at longer waits and “uncontrolled” airport environments”.(Sabullis 2013)
It is safe to say that the Sequester will have a negative impact on Aviation within the upcoming months. With all the negative impacts resulting in aviation I was unable to see any part of the aviation community gaining from the Sequester.
Sources:
Bruce M. & Dwyer D. (2013) Obama Signs Order to Begin Sequester Cuts After President, Congress Can't Reach Deal. Retrieved from:http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/obama-signs-order-begin-sequester-cuts-president-congress/story?id=18628023
Shea B. (2013) The Sequester: furloughs hit Fort Dodge: FAA employees face days off without pay; impact on local airports remains unknown Retrieved from : http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/555478/The-sequester--FAA-furloughs-hit---.html
Chapman C. (2013) Wholesale cuts risk safety, efficiency Retrieved from:http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-forward/2013/03/14/local-airports-hit-by-sequester-plans/
Sabulis T. (2013). Local
Airports Take a hit by Sequester :Moderation Retrieved from: blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-forward/2013/03/14/local-airports-hit-by-sequester-plans/
Tatum W. (2013) Culture Fail: The Sequester: All Pain No Gain Retrieved from: ARSA (2013) FAA too big to take a hit under sequestration. Retrieved From : http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2013/0314
