Congressional bill could fix workforce woes and federal funding for Mesa airport

New federal funding and programs are looking to address workforce issues and aging infrastructure which could hamper Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport’s growth.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Wednesday advanced the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which includes aviation safety and infrastructure programs for the next five years.

U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., the only member of Arizona’s delegation on the committee, pushed for changes to the bill in an effort to help move forward projects and address priorities for the east Valley airport.

Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport has become a hub for economic development in metro Phoenix, bringing an estimated to $1.8 billion to the Valley. The airport also saw double-digit passenger growth in 2022 with 1.8 million passengers compared to 1.1 million in 2021.

The changes to the bill include the expansion of yearly grant funds to the Airport Improvement Program, which will make $20 billion available over the next five years nationally.

To address a workforce shortage in the air traffic control tower, the bill would establish a pilot program to convert towers staffed by private companies to become staffed by the FAA. This part of the bill received support from Stanton’s Republican counterpart Rep. Andy Biggs.

The bill included other elements to improve air travel for people with disabilities and consumer protections. The bill, which passed the committee unanimously, heads to the House floor for a vote. A U.S. Senate companion bill is also making its way through that chamber. The bill would need to be signed by August to avoid funding disruptions.

Workforce woes in control tower

Gateway Airport dedicated a new air traffic control tower in August 2022, which was built with $10 million from a federal AIP grant. Keeping it fully staffed has been a struggle, leading the airport to reduce its operational hours by four hours to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

“This shortage is affecting continuity of service at some of the busiest contract towers, including those that have a complex mix of aviation activity, including at the busiest contract tower in the nation, located at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in my state of Arizona,” Stanton said in a statement.

His amendment would establish a program to transfer contract towers to FAA-staffed towers and would allow current contract air traffic controllers to retain their positions at their current towers.

Because of the airport's scope of operations, airport spokesman Ryan Smith said the control tower should be an FAA tower, but no mechanism exists to allow the airport to make that change.

Stanton's amendment to the reauthorization bill would allow the tower to convert to FAA employees and solve the staffing shortages.

Smith said Gateway has complex air spaces and is the busiest contract tower in the nation, which makes great training ground for controllers looking to move up to be a FAA employee.

“We lost a significant number of controllers last year. We basically get them trained up and immediately they’d get the letter form the FAA saying, ‘hey come work for us,’” Smith said. The FAA is also in the middle of a hiring blitz with plans to add 1,300 controllers this year and another 1,500 in 2024, he said.

During the off-hours, the control room sits empty at Gateway Airport. Smith said it’s not ideal to have planes land outside of operational hours but not uncommon. It’s important that the airport has the full capacity and coverage for an airport its size, he said.

Funding needed for runway construction

Updating aging runways at the airport is a key priority, Smith said. The airport has three 10,000-foot runways but the inside runway is older, larger aircraft, like 747's, can’t land on it, he said.

Recently, the airport welcomed DVS, an international cargo service, to deliver regularly scheduled products to the Valley. At least once a week a 747 plane lands at Gateway Airport to deliver 100 tons in “goods and products for the semiconductor industry,” Smith said.

The plane can land on the other runways, but the concern is without an updated runway the airport could run into issues managing the anticipated growth.

“It’s time to redo that runway,” Smith said. He said those improvements are estimated to cost $40 million and would be funded with a combination of AIP grant funds, local airport funds and Arizona Department of Transportation funds.

The AIP is critical for the success of airports like us, Smith said.

“Every dollar that we spend is supporting new jobs, new growth and new opportunities at the airport,” he said.

Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa/Gilbert and can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on Twitter @maritzacdom.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: FAA bill could address workforce woes and aging runways at Mesa airport