10 U.S. Schools Now Let ATC Candidates Skip FAA Academy

Sacramento City College becomes the 10th American institution to join the agency’s Enhanced Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative (E-CTI).

Jack Daleo

Friday, January 23, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Jack Daleo

Air traffic management student Hailee Williamson trains in the tower lab at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, one of 10 Enhanced Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative (E-CTI) schools. [Credit: Embry‑Riddle/Bill Fredette-Huffman]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA is actively expanding its Enhanced Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative (E-CTI), adding Sacramento City College as the 10th institution, to address a chronic shortage of approximately 3,000 air traffic controllers by providing training that fast-tracks graduates directly to FAA facilities.
To further combat understaffing, the FAA has implemented various recruitment and retention strategies, including raising starting salaries by 30%, streamlining the hiring process, offering significant bonuses for new hires and those in hard-to-staff facilities, and granting exemptions to the mandatory retirement age.
Despite these efforts and meeting recent hiring goals, the FAA faces a persistent challenge, aiming to onboard 8,900 controllers by 2028 while anticipating the loss of 6,800, highlighting a decade-long issue of understaffing exacerbated by increasing air traffic volume.

See a mistake? Contact us.

The FAA is expanding its capacity to train air traffic controllers (ATCs) as it contends with a chronic shortage of about 3,000 certified professional controllers (CPCs).

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday announced Sacramento City College in California as the 10th member of the FAA’s Enhanced Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative (E-CTI). The E-CTI provides the exact same curriculum and technology as the FAA’s ATC Academy in Oklahoma City.