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 set a record in FY26 by onboarding 2,235 air traffic controller trainees, exceeding its goal, partly due to successful recruitment efforts including targeting gamers.
Despite record trainee intake, the agency remains approximately 1,500 certified professional controllers (CPCs) short of its FY26 target due to the multi-year training required for full certification.
The FAA plans continued aggressive trainee hiring in FY27 and FY28, supported by expanded training capacity and incentives, while also undertaking system modernization; however, a proposed pay raise for active controllers remains uncommitted.

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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.