Forbes
Suzanne Rowan Kelleher
27 February 2025
The decades-long shortage of air traffic controllers in the U.S. won’t be solved anytime soon, even with a hiring blitz.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy unveiled a new plan Thursday to “supercharge” the hiring of air traffic controllers by changing “the current 8-step hiring process at the FAA to a 5-step process,” which will shave “more than four months off the old process.”
Currently, it can take nearly four years to become a certified air traffic controller, including spending several months at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, then completing up to three years of on-the-job experience before becoming certified, according to the FAA website.
Duffy announced ATC starting salaries would increase by 30% for candidates who go to the academy, saying the “average certified professional controller makes over $160,000 per year.”
That is only a 17% increase from $136,790, the mean salary for ATCs in May 2023, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but entry-level ATCs make significantly less, particularly in less busy locations.
Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser to President Donald Trump, posted on X on Thursday that he’s sending his Starlink satellite internet terminals to the FAA, claiming the current technology poses an “extremely dire” security risk.
Read on: FAA Announces ‘Hiring Supercharge’ For Air Traffic Controllers
