The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is mulling hiring additional air traffic controller trainees as it looks to fill the gap in its workforce amid staff shortage woes.
Hiring 2,300 Trainees
On Monday, Reuters reported that the agency sought to hire an additional 2,300 trainee air traffic controllers aimed at bolstering its workforce. The FAA is 3,500 employees short of its target, the report said. There were about 13,164 controllers currently in active service across airports.
The agency is also seeking over $95 million to support its hiring efforts, the report said, amid mandatory overtime and six-day work weeks for existing controllers. It also sought an additional $39 million to strengthen aviation safety oversight and commercial space transportation oversight. The FAA was also said to be investigating high failure rates among trainees, the report said.
Last year, during October and November, air traffic controllers worked without pay for the duration of the 43-day government shutdown, with the Trump administration paying a $10,000 bonus to controllers who did not miss a single day of work during the shutdown.
Revamped Air Traffic Control
The news comes as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stressed the need for a revamped air traffic control system following a fatal crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport that resulted in the deaths of both pilots after a plane operated by Air Canada crashed into an on-ground support vehicle on the airport’s runway as it was landing.
Duffy had earlier sought additional funding for the air traffic control’s revamp efforts on top of the $12.5 billion funding already approved by lawmakers last year. On the other hand, defense contractor RTX Corp (NYSE:RTX) was earlier awarded a $438 million contract by the FAA to upgrade radar systems for air traffic control.
Government Shutdown Causes Chaos
Meanwhile, the current government shutdown, which is set to enter day 53, has caused several problems in the aviation sector amid a staff shortage for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as well as the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents across airports in the U.S.
President Donald Trump‘s new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin recently floated an idea to remove customs officials from sanctuary city airports, sharing that the DHS sought to work with governments willing to cooperate with the agency.
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