FAA News

Federal Aviation Administration, Southwest Region, 2601 Meachum Blvd., Ft. Worth, TX 76193-0005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April, 2000 (Fact Sheet)

Albuquerque Center (ZAB) is an en route air traffic control facility with responsibility for safe and expeditious flow of air traffic over nearly 230,000 square miles of airspace. This airspace covers much of Arizona and New Mexico, a large portion of West Texas, and smaller portions of Colorado and Oklahoma. Albuquerque Center’s air traffic count exceeds 2 million operations annually.

Albuquerque Center works with Phoenix Tower’s radar control and tower to control traffic into and out of the Phoenix area, one of the busiest in the United States. In addition to Albuquerque, the Center also supports approach controls and towers at: El Paso and Amarillo, Texas; Roswell, Cannon AFB, Holloman AFB, and White Sands Missile Range, N.M.; and Tucson, Luke AFB, and Ft. Huachuaca, Ariz. Albuquerque Center also works with air traffic control towers at Prescott and Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Santa Fe, N.M; and supports five adjoining domestic air route traffic control centers and two Mexican area control centers.

Eight military installations within Albuquerque Center’s boundary, as well as military units based throughout the United States, conduct operations in special use airspace within Albuquerque Center. This includes the majority of F-16 training missions in the United States, F-117 stealth fighter training missions and German Air Force F-4 and Tornado aircraft. The Center’s special use airspace includes the White Sands Missile Range, where a wide variety of testing is accomplished.

Albuquerque Center is revising airspace and procedures for the north side of the Phoenix Terminal Area for better air traffic management. This includes installation of new communications and radar surveillance equipment with 27 construction and equipment project since January, 1999.

The Host and Oceanic Computer System Replacement (HOCSR) was commissioned on January 31, 1999, and the Display System Replacement (DSR) was commissioned on December 16, 1999. The Host computer is the heart of the national airspace system that provides radar, weather and flight data information to air traffic controllers.

The Center is located on the southeast corner of Paseo Del Norte and Louisiana Boulevard, ten miles north of Albuquerque International Sunport (airport). Working there are 364 Air Traffic employees and 60 Airway Facilities employees (technicians and engineers who maintain and certify the equipment). Air Traffic personnel earned recognition as the 1998 Facility of the Year in the FAA’s Southwest Region. Airway Facilities personnel were honored as the Southwest Region’s 1998 Sector of the Year and received the 1998 State of New Mexico Environmental Compliance Award.

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