The FAA’s latest air traffic control (ATC) workforce plan projects that the agency will hire thousands of controllers by the end of 2028—but that push would not be enough to address a nationwide shortage that has persisted for years.
The staffing blueprint, unveiled Thursday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, outlines the agency’s strategy to close the gap, which stands at about 3,000 to 3,500 certified professional controllers (CPCs). The plan calls for onboarding about 8,900 personnel through 2028.
But the FAA expects to lose more than 6,800 during that period, netting it closer to 2,000 controllers. Of these, only about 1,000 would be CPCs or CPCs in training (CPC-ITs)—controllers learning the ropes of a new facility after working elsewhere.
Some ATC facilities are meeting their staffing targets. Others are operating well below them, with a few struggling to stay even 50 percent staffed. On the eve of January’s fatal collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and commercial passenger jet, for example, control tower staffing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA) was at about 89 percent.
Per a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing last week, the controller involved in the incident was managing about 10 airplanes and helicopters that night. He directed the Black Hawk to use visual separation, transferring responsibility for preventing a collision to the pilot. According to testimony, the tower’s use of visual separation—which lightens controller workload but adds complexity for pilots—was encouraged due to low staffing levels.
“The aviation ecosystem is rapidly evolving and the FAA must adapt to unprecedented changes,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement accompanying the plan.
ATC Workforce Plan
The FAA aims to hire at least 8,900 controllers through 2028, with yearly targets of 2,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2025; 2,200 in FY 2026; 2,300 in FY 2027; and 2,400 in FY 2028. In FY 2024, the agency narrowly exceeded its target.
The government has taken a number of actions to “supercharge” hiring in recent months.
In March, for example, the Transportation Department said it referred over 8,000 candidates to the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) after raising starting salaries for academy trainees by 30 percent and streamlining the hiring process from eight steps to five. In May, it rolled out cash bonuses for trainees who complete their courses or agree to work in hard-to-staff facilities. The White House’s FY 2026 budget request further supports these efforts with fresh funding.
The FAA is also recruiting personnel from the military and private industry and plans to install tower simulation systems for controller training at 95 facilities by December. Per the workforce plan, it aims to fill “every seat at the FAA Academy.” Duffy in July said applicants are now entering the training pipeline four times faster.
Despite the ramp-up, a June report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found that ATC staffing has been declining for more than a decade due to years of underhiring. By FY 2024, nearly one-third of facilities were 10 percent below their targets.
“Even if you have all the controllers that you thought you needed, remember, there are 313 facilities out there, and every one of them needs to be staffed at the level that your staffing standard says you need,” said Bill Strickland, chair of the committee behind the report, “and unfortunately that’s not the case.”
Many of the lowest-staffed sites are terminal radar and approach control (TRACON) facilities, where controllers guide approaching and departing aircraft at airports. The New York TRACON (N90), for example, had 113 CPCs as of September 2024—just half of its target. The FAA on Friday began recruiting entry-level personnel to N90, which oversees flights at John F. Kennedy International (KJFK) and LaGuardia (KLGA) airports.
Per the workforce plan, these shortages could persist. While it would add thousands of controllers, thousands more are expected to depart through academy attrition, promotions or transfers, retirements, and other reasons. Factoring that in, the blueprint predicts the number of CPC and CPC-ITs to grow from 11,855 in FY 2024 to 12,691 in FY 2028—a modest gain of less than 1,000.
Closing the Gap
Years of staffing shortages are being examined as a factor in incidents such as the midair collision at Reagan Airport, which according to the NTSB has a history of near misses.
Controllers at KDCA and other facilities have described a “make-it-work” mentality that has become common among overextended staff. One witness during last week’s hearing called D.C.’s airspace the “least safe” it has ever been.
Understaffing also factored into disruptions at Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR), which has delayed and cancelled thousands of flights in recent months. Due to the staffing issues at N90, oversight of Newark’s airspace was transferred to the Philadelphia TRACON, which receives communications and radar data from hundreds of miles away.
In conjunction with the hiring push, the DOT and FAA are working to upgrade outdated ATC technology, such as replacing the copper wiring feeding data to the Philadelphia TRACON with fiber optic cables.
In July, Congress allotted $12.5 billion for Duffy’s “state-of-the-art” ATC modernization plan, which entails the construction of new TRACONs and air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs) as well as upgrades to radar, telecommunications, and runway safety systems. The Transportation Secretary has predicted the overhaul could be complete in three to four years.
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