FAA cuts controller staffing target

The Federal Aviation Administration on May 15 lowered its full staffing target for certified air traffic controllers, setting a new goal of 12,563 Certified Professional Controllers, down from 14,633 in its prior plan. The agency paired the cut with a new three-year workforce plan that says it will hire more controllers, change scheduling and use updated staffing models to reduce overtime. (faa.gov) The move comes after years of controller shortages, heavy overtime and repeated warnings from the agency and outside reviewers about strain across the system. (cnbc.com) The FAA said the new target is based on forecast demand and findings from a National Academy of Sciences review of its staffing models. ### How big is the change? The new target is 2,070 controllers lower than the previous 14,633 goal. The FAA described 12,563 controllers as its new full-staffing target for the National Airspace System under the 2026-2028 workforce plan released Friday, May 15. The earlier plan, published in August 2025, said the FAA’s controller workforce reached 14,264 in fiscal 2024 and laid out multiyear hiring goals. The new plan does not say the shortage has disappeared; it resets the benchmark the agency says it is trying to meet. (faa.gov) ### What does the FAA say justifies a lower target? The FAA said the new figure reflects “forecast demand” and findings from the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board review of existing staffing models and methodologies. The agency said modern staffing models and scheduling tools should improve efficiency and reduce excessive overtime. (cnbc.com) Reuters reported that a National Academies report last year said overtime costs for controllers had risen by more than 300% since 2013 to more than $200 million, and said the workforce was misallocated and inefficiently scheduled. That report also said time spent actively managing traffic had declined despite a 4% increase in traffic and could rise from about four hours per shift to more than five hours. (faa.gov) ### How short is the system right now? As of April 2026, the FAA said about 11,000 certified professional controllers were deployed across more than 300 air traffic facilities. The agency also said about 4,000 additional controllers were in the training pipeline, including about 1,000 who had previously been fully certified at another facility and were training for new assignments. (faa.gov) Training remains slow. The FAA said it can take more than two years to fully certify a new-hire controller, depending on the complexity of the assigned facility. That lag is one reason annual hiring totals do not translate quickly into fully certified staffing on the floor. (cnbc.com) ### What do the overtime numbers show? In 2024, the FAA’s air traffic control workforce logged 2.2 million hours of overtime at a cost of $200 million. Annual overtime per controller rose 308% since 2013, or by 126 hours a year, to an average of 167 hours, according to Reuters’ account of the agency’s plan and the National Academies review. (faa.gov) From 2013 to 2023, the FAA hired only about two-thirds of the controllers called for by its staffing models, Reuters reported, citing the review. Controllers in many locations have been working six-day weeks and mandatory overtime. (faa.gov) ### What is the FAA promising to do next? The FAA said it will target hires of 2,200 controllers in fiscal 2026, 2,300 in fiscal 2027 and 2,400 in fiscal 2028. The agency said it was already 60% of the way toward its 2026 hiring goal when it released the plan. Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator, said in the agency’s May 15 release that the FAA was changing how it hires, trains and schedules controllers and would provide updated tools to support them. (cnbc.com) The agency also said it would expand partnerships with colleges, universities and technical schools through its Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative programs. (usnews.com) ### Where can readers track the next step? The FAA posted the 2026-2028 Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan on its reports-to-Congress page on May 15. The next measurable step is whether the agency reaches its fiscal 2026 hiring target of 2,200 controllers and whether the controller pipeline converts those hires into certified staff over the following years. (faa.gov 1) (faa.gov 2)