Travel Pulse
Eraine Wessler
01 February 2025
Data from the Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t paint a rosy picture for staffing of airport towers and approach facilities in the United States.
CNN reports that roughly 70% of staffing targets were filled by fully certified controllers as of September 2023. When controllers who are currently in training are included, that number rose to about 79%.
And for some traffic control towers at major airports around the country, such as Philadelphia, Orlando, Austin, Albuquerque, and Milwaukee, there was less than 60% of staffing targets filled with certified controllers. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where an American Eagle flight collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, had about 63%.
Read on: FAA Data Highlights Air Traffic Controller Shortages Across Major Airports | TravelPulse
