FAA Breaks ATC Hiring Record, But More Work Remains

Agency remains hundreds of controllers short of its targeted headcount as of August.

Jack Daleo

Friday, October 02, 2026 at 04:30 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C. [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA onboarded a record 2,235 air traffic controller trainees in FY26, exceeding its hiring goal, partly through new recruitment strategies like targeting gamers.
Despite the record trainee intake, the number of certified professional controllers (CPCs) remains significantly short of the agency's FY26 target, with only 11,000 CPCs against a goal of 12,563.
Trainees require years to complete facility-specific training and become fully certified, meaning the recent hires will not immediately alleviate the current staffing shortage.
The FAA plans continued aggressive hiring for FY27 and FY28, expanding training capacity and modernizing systems, but the administrator has not committed to a legislated pay raise for active controllers.

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The FAA said it onboarded more air traffic controller trainees in fiscal year 2026 (FY26) than in any year in the agency’s history, though the number of certified professional controllers (CPCs) remained hundreds short of headcount targets as of August.

The agency set a goal of hiring 2,200 ATC trainees in FY26 and said Thursday that it onboarded 2,235. The influx was in part due to the FAA’s recruitment of gamers, which netted more than 12,000 applications in under 24 hours, the agency said.