Shaheen, Hoeven Call on Acting FAA Administrator to Urgently Address Air Traffic Controller Staffing Shortages
**Citing the deadly collision at Reagan National Airport and increasingly frequent near-misses at airports across the country, Senators request that the FAA work with Congress on ways to prevent future tragedies**
(Washington, DC) – Following the deadliest commercial aviation incident on U.S. soil in more than 23 years last month, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and John Hoeven (R-ND) are calling on Acting Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Chris Rochelau to urgently work with Congress to address air traffic controller staffing shortages. In their letter, Shaheen and Hoeven highlight how increasingly frequent near-misses and crashes emphasize the need for the FAA to confront the shortage of air traffic controllers as part of any response to the fatal collision that took place on January 29, 2025.
In part, the Senators wrote: “We know the FAA understands the need to increase controller staffing: the agency raised their hiring goal to onboard a projected 17,125 controllers through Fiscal Year 2033. However, turning those goals into reality is far more challenging. According to the FAA, only 60% of controller trainees reach full certification within three years. And despite meeting self-imposed yearly staffing targets, attrition continues to keep pace with new hires.
They continued: “We ask that you work with Congress and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to increase funding for operations, modernize facilities and equipment, expand the FAA training academy’s capacity, strengthen partnerships with aviation schools across the county and other ways to prevent partisan brinksmanship around government funding from shutting down operations.”
The Senators concluded: “For the sake of America’s traveling public, we can and must do better. At a minimum, we must commit to doing all we can to reinforce our certified professional controller (CPC) workforce and keep tragedies like this from becoming commonplace. We stand ready to work closely with you and your Administration to do everything in our power to prevent this from happening again.”
Full text of the letter can be found here.
A recent New York Times investigation found that in Fiscal Year 2023 there were 503 air traffic control lapses that the FAA preliminarily categorized as “significant,” which marks a 65 percent increase from the previous year. During that period, air traffic increased by about 4 percent.
At the end of Fiscal Year 2024, there were 1,020 fewer CPCs than there were at the end of Fiscal Year 2012 – marking a 9% decrease in air traffic controllers in the workforce. Last year, Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization Act with broad bipartisan support. The reauthorization legislation included provisions secured by Shaheen requiring the FAA, for the first time, to hire the maximum number of new controller trainees as can be trained annually at the FAA’s Academy in Oklahoma City for each of the five years of the law’s duration.
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