The union representing the country’s more than 14,000 air traffic controllers (ATCs) said that it was left out of the FAA’s decision to lower its ATC staffing target amid a chronic shortage of personnel.
The agency on Friday released a new ATC Workforce Plan that sets a target of 12,563 certified professional controllers (CPCs)—those who have completed their training and been deployed for operations—for fiscal year 2026 (FY26).
Per the plan, as of April, there were about 11,000 CPCs, which excludes controllers in the training pipeline. That would place the current shortfall at about 1,500 controllers.
However, the plan uses a new staffing model to determine that target, which is far lower than the 14,633 CPCs called for under the Collaborative Resource Working Group (CRWG) blueprint that the FAA used to calculate its FY24 goal. Based on the latest CRWG targets, developed with input from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), 11,000 CPCs would represent a much larger shortfall of about 3,500 personnel.
The FAA believes the new model better accounts for controller availability, hence the lower 1,500 figure. But NATCA told FLYING that it had no role in the change.
“NATCA was not involved in the development of the 2026-2028 Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan and is reviewing the document,” the union said.
During the government shutdown in late 2025—which left thousands of controllers working without pay—Nick Daniels, president of NATCA, said many ATCs work 10 hours a day, six days a week to make up for staffing shortages. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating whether absences in the LaGuardia Airport (KLGA) tower led controllers to assume multiple duties on the eve of a fatal crash in March.
Similar scrutiny arose amid the NTSB’s investigation into the deadly collision between a passenger jet and U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., in January 2025. The agency ultimately found several factors—including the errant placement of helicopter routes at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA) and overreliance on “see and avoid” techniques—contributed to the accident.
Though the FAA’s new ATC staffing model targets a lower headcount, the agency believes it can improve the efficiency of individual controllers, reduce overtime and fatigue, and deploy automation to better predict future air traffic.
Fewer ATCs, Better Efficiency
The FAA said its new plan has three main goals—“erase the long-standing staffing shortage, prepare for future demand, and ensure the long-term safety and operational efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS).”
Though it plans to ramp up hiring, the agency is also “erasing” the shortage by lowering its staffing targets.
“We can’t continue to operate the same way and expect better results,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. “We’re changing how we hire, train, and schedule our controller workforce—and providing them with the state-of-the-art tools they need to succeed.”
Per the plan, the FAA’s decision to change its staffing model stems from a 2025 Transportation Research Board (TRB) report, which “concluded that the FAA legacy staffing standard models remain valid and sound” while recommending a few changes.
Before adopting the CRWG, the FAA used its own staffing model. The report found that the agency’s standard, devised by its Office of Financial and Labor Analysis (AFN), is at risk of becoming obsolete and likely overestimated controller availability. It concluded that the CRWG is better in some areas, such as accounting for differences in individual facilities.
The FAA’s previous ATC staffing blueprint, released in August 2025, uses the CRWG targets. However, the TRB ultimately determined that the AFN standard provides an “adequate baseline estimate” to project current and future staffing needs.
FAA leadership reviewed the TRB report and created a new framework for FY26 to ’28, moving away from the CRWG. It reduces the controller availability factor, which the agency said more accurately captures the amount of time ATCs spend on training, leave, and other duties.
The agency said it will also adopt a new metric called CPC-Equivalent Workforce (CEW) as a measure of “workforce strength.” The AFN standard counted CPCs and CPCs in training (CPC-ITs) toward its targets. The revised model “recognizes that developmental controllers and CPC-ITs contribute to operations while they complete training,” the FAA said.
Individual facility staffing targets contained in the plan list the current number of CPCs, CPC-ITs, and developmental staff but do not explicitly include the CEW metric.
In addition to the new staffing model, the FAA said it will explore the use of automation to modernize scheduling and workforce management. Absences have forced the agency to either reduce traffic or rely too heavily on mandatory overtime. But it believes modern tools could mitigate fatigue, surge staffing to facilities experiencing high traffic, and increase controller time-on-position from four to five or six hours per eight-hour shift.
The Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories (SMART) system, which officials discussed in April in Washington could support those efforts. Per an executive of Thales—one of three companies reported to be bidding on SMART—the FAA envisions the system predicting weather, traffic, and other airspace conditions up to six months in advance.
The FAA’s Friday news release notes its plans to use “artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to better simulate and manage NAS performance before the day of departure”—a possible allusion to SMART.
“Deploying modern staffing models and scheduling tools will improve controller staffing efficiency and reduce the need for excessive overtime, which can lead to fatigue and burnout,” the agency said.
The FAA also said it will work with NATCA to “identify and resolve bottlenecks across hiring, training, and operations.”
The FAA exceeded its FY25 hiring target of 2,000 controller trainees and said Friday that it is 60 percent of the way to meeting FY26’s 2,200 target. Per Friday’s workforce plan, the agency seeks to hire 2,300 controllers in FY27 and 2,400 in FY28—both in line with the August 2025 blueprint. Its FY27 budget request calls for $95.4 million to support the effort.
Though the plan would add 6,900 controllers from FY26 to ‘28, the FAA expects to lose 5,307 personnel during that period, primarily due to dropouts at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City and “developmental losses driven by increased hiring.”
That means it would net only 1,593 controllers by FY28—and not all of them will be CPCs.
Even if all of those additions were CPCs, they would only be enough to meet FY26’s headcount target of 12,563. Assuming staffing standards continue to rise, the FAA could remain shorthanded in the future.
Growing the Pipeline
Per Friday’s plan, the agency will ramp up hiring if FY26 losses come in higher than predicted. It has about 4,000 controllers in the training pipeline, about one-quarter of whom are CPC-ITs with experience at another facility. It will look to expand the use of simulators to reduce training time—which often takes years—by up to 27 percent.
In April, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the agency’s latest hiring push—targeting gamers—netted it 12,000 applications in just 24 hours, which he said was the most in a single day in its history.
The FAA also aims to gradually improve academy training program completion rates while updating its process for assigning graduates to the facilities with the greatest need. It said it will provide “targeted training for the most successful academy candidates.” At the same time, the agency plans to expand air traffic collegiate training initiative (AT-CTI) and Enhanced CTI programs at U.S. colleges and universities.
The FAA’s Brand New ATC System plan could deliver further improvements by equipping controllers with the latest radars, radios, voice switches, and other equipment. The agency is using $12.5 billion allocated by Congress to replace thousands of antiquated systems and build new towers and centers, with a significant chunk of that work already complete. An additional $20 billion could support further enhancements such as SMART.
According to the FAA, efforts to strengthen the ATC workforce are already paying dividends.
The agency has deployed a range of strategies to improve hiring and retention, including raising starting salaries for academy trainees by almost 30 percent, offering incentives for graduates, and paying retirement-age controllers to remain on the job. It estimated Friday that the hiring surge and financial incentives resulted in a net gain of 568 personnel.
Still, the FAA lost 1,460 controllers in FY25 due to academy attrition, training failures, retirements, resignations, and promotions. It said that 400 CPCs and supervisors took advantage of the retirement incentives, costing the agency about $12.3 million. About 500 will be eligible for those incentives in FY26, at a cost of $15.5 million to the agency.
“Despite the increased incentive to delay retirement, most controllers still leave the controller workforce prior to reaching the mandatory age,” the workforce plan reads.
It adds that “hiring and retention bonuses, improvements in workforce scheduling, staffing utilization, use of overtime compensation,” and other methods will be crucial to strengthening the workforce in the future.
