Congressmen want to keep FAA jobs on Long Island

Congressmen Anthony D’Esposito and Nick LaLota visited the Federal Aviation Administration’s New York Terminal Radar Approach Control facility in Westbury recently to meet with staff concerned about the FAA’s plan to relocate dozens of employees from Long Island to Pennsylvania.

The relocation plan proposed by the FAA would mandate certain facility employees work from the Philadelphia Air Traffic Control Tower location for up to two years, a timeline seen as unacceptable by many impacted staffers.

“It seems entirely unnecessary for the FAA to force hardworking public servants from New York TRACON to uproot their entire lives for a ‘temporary’ placement in another state that could last multiple years,” said D’Esposito in a release. “This shifting of staff from the N90 facility also has the potential to present serious obstacles for regional flight tracking teams.”

The FAA staffers at the Westbury facility, also known as N90, provide critical approach services for airports throughout the New York metropolitan area including John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport. TRACON is responsible for serving several smaller airfields as well, including Long Island MacArthur Airport and Westchester County Airport.

“As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation, I have made it abundantly clear to my congressional colleagues that keeping good union jobs at the TRACON facility here on Long Island remains at the top of my priority list as our subcommittee works through the 2023 FAA reauthorization process,” D’Esposito said in a release.