Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced on Wednesday that 2,000 new air traffic controllers will be hired this year, as the administration works to address a national air traffic controller shortage.
“We have a historic number this year of 2,000 controllers [that] are going to be hired, and we’re going to expand it next year,” Duffy said on Fox News. “But it’s about a four-month academy, but once you graduate from the academy, you have to be trained up in your air space, so we are all hands on deck.”
The most recent Federal Aviation Administration Controller Workforce Plan showed the agency is experiencing a shortage of 3,000 controllers.
The FAA anticipates hiring at least 8,900 new air traffic controllers through 2028, according to the recent workforce plan.
The Trump administration has been working to hire more controllers by adding schools to the Enhanced Air Traffic – Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI), a partnership between the FAA and colleges that train students with an education equivalent to what they would get at the FAA Air Traffic Control Academy in Oklahoma City.
Once students graduate from an approved Enhanced AT-CTI program, they can immediately apply for positions and begin localized training at an air traffic control facility.
“More schools participating in a fast-tracked air traffic control training program = more of the best and brightest managing our skies,” Duffy said on X. “@USDOT and the @FAANews will not leave this shortage for the next Secretary. We’re supercharging the hiring pipeline to Make Air Travel Great Again.”
The FAA has authorized nine programs at eight schools nationwide with the Enhanced AT-CTI program.
The FAA began accepting schools’ applications to join the enhanced program in April 2024, and Tulsa Community College and the University of Oklahoma were the first schools accepted in October 2024 under then-Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
The Trump administration has announced five CTI programs this year.
Students who complete the program are still required to complete the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) exam and meet the same security and medical requirements that FAA Air Traffic Control Academy graduates must pass.
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Congress is also addressing the staffing shortages. The Air Traffic Control Workforce Development Act of 2025 was introduced in May to fix what members of Congress say is “one of the most serious safety risks currently facing U.S. airspace.”
The bipartisan legislation would codify AT-CTI, fund tower simulator systems, and support mental health services for air traffic controllers.
Adding more programs to the AT-CTI initiative is the latest plan from the Trump administration to address the FAA’s staffing shortages.
In May, Duffy unveiled a new program aimed at bolstering the air traffic controller workforce by offering financial incentives to recent graduates and new hires for completing initial training milestones and awarding graduates who are hired at hard-to-staff facilities.
“But there’s more work to be done to secure our skies. Today’s actions will supercharge the air traffic controller workforce from both retention and hiring side of the equation – bringing us one step closer to reversing decades of staffing declines,” Duffy said in a statement announcing the supercharge program.
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Duffy said on Fox News that addressing the shortage is a top priority for the administration.
“We think in three and a half years that we can do a vast majority of this build on the infrastructure, which Americans are going to see when they fly,” Duffy said. “I think we are going to be almost done with the hiring of air traffic controllers from our surge so we’re going to be in a good place.”