A Bay Area airport was on the brink of no longer having any air traffic controllers as tense contract negotiations played out over salaries, according to media reports.
The staffing issue that nearly shut down San Carlos Airport is now being scrutinized in the wake of the deadly midair collision Wednesday night at Ronald Reagan National Airport that claimed the lives of all 67 involved.
In a public statement sent just hours before the disaster over Washington D.C., San Carlos Airport manager Gretchen Kelly announced that its towers would be unstaffed beginning Saturday, SF Gate reported. The small airfield sits approximately 12 miles from the San Francisco International Airport, the publication added.
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Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-CA) described the contract negotiations as “complicated” by the high cost of living in the Bay Area, the report stated.
However, the air traffic controllers and aviation services company overseeing their salaries reached an agreement Thursday, avoiding an employee walk-off.
“We are hopeful that air traffic services at San Carlos Airport will not be interrupted,” Kelly told SFGATE, while declining to elaborate on specific agreement details, including if a housing stipend had been matched as the air traffic controllers wanted.
The episode unfolded as a preliminary safety report over the air crash Wednesday night suggested that “abnormal air traffic control tower staffing issues” contributed to the cause, the publication reported.
