President Nick Daniels on NBC Nightly News

Yesterday evening, NBC Nightly News broadcast an interview of NATCA President Nick Daniels by Lester Holt that took place earlier on Friday at National Airport. The interview covered controller staffing shortages and the stringent hiring standards for the job. Here is a transcript of the promo for that interview from NBC News’ Instagram channel:

Daniels: I want to make sure that everyone understands, we are at the all-time low in staffing. We do need a reform in budgeting in order to modernize this system. And we do want to recruit the best and brightest along as, you know, the President of the United States said. We want to work with him. That’s going to include needing to engage in talking about pay, benefits, and the stresses that this job brings.

Holt: So could this be a wake-up call to some extent?

Daniels: Yes. Absolutely. I think any chance that we have to talk about the
fragility of the air traffic system and the ways to improve it, we should be out
doing that.

Watch the promo of the interview on NBC News’Instagram channel here. |
Watch the interview as it was broadcast on NBC Night News last night here.