As airline delays seem to worsen, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association says delays will continue to skyrocket until the government hires more air traffic controllers and pays them better.

The Federal Aviation Administration and NATCA are locked in a dispute over a new contract for the controllers.

"When the F.A.A posed a new contract on us last year this froze the veteran controllers pay for the next 5 years and slashed the new hires pay by 30%.

This is causing a surge in retirements across the nation," says Mark Hall, the Representative of NATCA at Tallahassee Regional Airport.

Union members are hoping Congress will help them obtain a negotiated contract.

The current contract expires in 2011 but many say by then it will be too late to fix the shortage.

Currently, the United States runs more than half the world's air traffic with about 12000 controllers.

The Union estimates that over 10% of the controller work force will retire in the next couple months if there's no drastic changes in legislation.

As the number of experienced air traffic controllers decrease they may be required to work more hours on more days which can lead to errors on the job that could be fatal.

"The more planes that are in the sky, the more controllers we need and the airports are overcrowded as it is. So yes it's a very grave, dangerous issue I think."

Tallahassee Regional Airport currently has 6 trainees and 15 certified controllers, five of which are eligible to retire at any time.

The F.A.A. hired over 1800 trainees in 2007 but Union members say it can take up to two years to fully train them.