Air traffic controllers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport began to solicit passenger support Monday for what they say is an unfair contract that could lead to fewer air traffic controllers guiding planes over Baltimore.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, however, said the claims being made by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association ? the union that represents air traffic controllers nationwide ? are false. The union is trying to divert public attention away from what the FAA believes was a fair contract that considered the best interests of the traffic controllers and taxpayers, the administration says.