WASHINGTON: The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is cutting its overall staffing target for air traffic controllers by about 2,000 people, saying it can make do with fewer personnel through technology and scheduling improvements over the coming years.
The regulator, in its air traffic controller workforce plan for fiscal years 2026 through 2028 released last Friday, said the new full staffing target is 12,563 certified professional controllers, down from a prior target of 14,633.
The agency said it can accomplish its revised target by implementing certain changes, including using automated tools to schedule controllers and to track “time, attendance and functional work accomplished”.
Currently that is all done manually.
Making that change should help reduce the use of overtime to meet operational demand, according to the FAA.
“Though limited overtime is appropriate for unexpected events, sustained reliance on overtime is not an efficient or sustainable solution,” the agency said.
The FAA for years has been working to address a shortage in air traffic controllers that has strained the US aviation system – a longstanding problem made worse in recent years by repeat government shutdowns, high levels of attrition and the Covid-19 pandemic, which hurt hiring and training efforts.
“We’re changing how we hire, train and schedule our controller workforce – and providing them with the state-of-the-art tools they need to succeed,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a news release.
The FAA also said in the report that it wants to increase the time a controller is “on position” actually managing traffic during an eight-hour shift to five hours from four.
It said the average time controllers spend at their workstation - rather than on a break, doing training or something else - has slowly shifted downward since 2008.
A representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a labor union that represents controllers, said it wasn’t involved in developing the workforce plan and is reviewing the document. — Bloomberg
