NATCA Bookshelf

N A T C A I N W A S H I N G T O N 2 0 2 5 N i W To d a y 22 22 22 22 ISSUES – a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – completes a study to determine which staffing models and methodologies best account for the operational staffing needs necessary to meet facility operational, statutory, contractual and safety requirements of the air traffic control system. Proper and timely implementation of these provisions is essential to the safety, efficiency, and technological modernization of the NAS for the years to come. NATCA believes the FAA and Congress must continue to take a holistic, collaborative approach to resolving its staffing and training challenges and we remain committed to working with all stakeholders – the Administration, Congress, and Industry – to develop permanent, sustainable solutions. NATCA also recommends the following near-term actions: n The FAA should routinely post vacancy announcements for experienced air traffic controllers and hire the maximum number of qualified controller candidates annually from those announcements, as directed by law. n The FAA should continue posting, at minimum on an annual basis, an all-sources open announcement for non-experienced candidates, many of whom come from CTI schools, the military, and other aviation-related professions. n The FAA should continue to streamline the hiring process, specifically easing the bottlenecks and delays in human resources, security, and medical. In addition to these hiring advancements, the FAA and NATCA established a more efficient and expeditious transfer policy for current FAA controllers that encourages experienced controllers at lower-level facilities to voluntarily move up (at their own expense) to busier, more complex facilities. Although this alone will not resolve the staffing and training issues, it does allow experienced controllers to move to busier facilities where they are more likely to certify than newly placed academy graduates. Subsequently, it allows the FAA to place academy graduates in the less complex and less busy facilities where they are more likely to certify. Previously, academy graduates often were placed in high-traffic, high-complexity towers and radar facilities upon graduation, which resulted in poor success rates. Background S t a f f i n g & H i r i n g C h a l l e n g e s The air traffic controller workforce is continuing to experience a CPC shortage. In 2013, sequestra- tion forced the FAA to institute a hiring freeze and shutter the FAA Academy from March to December. That compounded an already tenuous staffing sit- uation in which the FAA was trying to keep up with the pace of controller retirements. The FAA also is trying to make-up for the sequestration-related hiring freeze or the 35-day government shutdown that stretched from December 2018 through Janu- ary 2019. Despite meeting its hiring goals for much of the past decade, FAA has not kept up with air traffic controller attrition over the same period. At the end of FY 2024, there were 1,020 fewer CPCs than there were at the end of FY 2012, a 10% decrease. CPC totals have remained essentially flat since end of FY 2016 even when the FAA has met or exceeded its hiring targets. At the end of FY 2024, the FAA had 3,044 controllers in training, including 2,091 developmental stage trainees and 953 CPCs- in-training (CPC-ITs, who transferred to new facilities, but have not yet certified on the new airspace). At the end of FY 2018, the FAA had 2,482 developmental stage trainees and 1,320 CPC-ITs for a total of 3,802 trainees. This decline of over 750 trainees means that the pipeline has dwindled. Consequently, as of the end of FY 2023, the FAA netted an additional 15 CPC compared to the end of FY 2022. By the end of FY 2024, the FAA netted an additional 140 CPCs. Maximum hiring for the full five-year duration of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 will greatly assist the FAA achieve a staffing level required to meet its needs. However, maximum controller hiring will not solve this issue on its own. On average, only 60% of all controller trainees reach full certification within five years (many of those who do not are removed or resign from employment with the FAA). Thus, even maximum controller hiring will take several years to have a positive effect on CPC totals. In addition, without updating the CWP to be based on the CRWG's CPC staffing standard the FAA will struggle to determine appropriate staffing targets at each facility. S t a ffi n g A n d Tr a i n i n g C h a l l e n g e s Pe r s i s t Issue

• Cover