According to the FAA’s most recent information, a troublingly large percentage of the nation’s air traffic control towers are understaffed.
As of September 2023, there were 7,047 certified air traffic controllers working across the in airport control towers and approach/departure facilities across the country. That may seem like a lot, but it’s almost 2,000 workers short of the goal of 8,966 set by the FAA in conjunction with the controllers’ union.
Likewise, 4,531 controllers worked in en route facilities – a shortage of 1,136 employees.
In fact, of the 313 FAA facilities that participated in the report, only 23 of them had reached the agreed-upon staffing goal.
The numbers for the hiring goals were laid out in the FAA’s workforce plan for 2024-2033, which does not appear on the FAA’s website and had to be located by Axios using the Wayback Machine internet archive. It’s possible the report was taken down as part of an executive order from President Donald Trump that forced a purge of data from government websites.
Air traffic controllers are under intense scrutiny from Trump and his Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) headed up by billionaire Elon Musk after a January mid-air collision.