(NewsNation) — Passengers may take safe air travel for granted, but close calls involving commercial airlines have been on the rise.
Just in the month of July, there were more than 40 close calls. Statistically, there are near misses involving commercial planes multiple times per week, on average.
In 2022, there were 226 near-mid-air collisions involving commercial aircraft, a 15% increase from 2021. The numbers for 2023 appear to be roughly on the same place, placing an average of one of those mid-air near misses two out of every three days.
The potential for danger isn’t just in the air. Runway incursions, a term which includes any kind of mishap that could happen on a runway, there were nearly 1,700 in 2022.
There are many things that can cause a runway incursion or near collision, including pilot error and pedestrians or cars that end up on the runway. But there is one issue that many are pointing to: Chronic understaffing in air traffic control towers across the country.
The goal is for each ATC tower to be at 85 staffing, but less than a quarter of them actually reach that goal. People who are tuned-in to the airline industry say it’s time to start heeding the warnings.
“It’s going to happen more and more, simply because there are not enough traffic controllers to handle it and the traffic itself is increasing. They’re going to have to figure this out,” said Peter Greenburg, NewsNation travel editor.
The U.S. aviation system may be one of the safest in the world, but one close call is too many, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA said the goal is zero serious close calls, releasing the following statement:
“The same approach virtually eliminated the risk of fatalities aboard U.S. commercial airlines since 2009. U.S. carriers have transported more than the world’s population with no fatal crashes.”
The 2009 incident was the crash of a Continental Airlines Flight near Buffalo, New York.
The FAA says they are on top of this issue. They are planning trainings at about 90 different airports from now until September to try to get through some of the runway issues and navigate some of the problems.
That schedule includes some major hubs like Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.