The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Thursday it had met its hiring goal for 2023 after hiring the 1,500 air traffic controllers needed to rebuild its training pipeline.
The FAA said it now has an estimated 2,600 controllers being trained at facilities across the country, many of whom are already certified to work in some air traffic positions as they continue to train on others.
“This is an important milestone as we come out of the pandemic, but there is more work to do. We plan to hire 1,800 controllers in the upcoming year provided we receive the funding,” said Tim Arel, chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization.
After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the FAA to close its academy shortly in 2020, and pause on -the-job training for almost two years, the agency is now working to rebuild its air traffic controller workforce. President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget request funding allowed the agency to hire an additional 1,800 controllers. More than 12,000 people have applied to be an air traffic controller since the agency’s BeATC campaign began earlier this year.
Qualified candidates talk the Air Traffic Skills Assessment exam, and the highest scorers are invited to attend the FAA’s Air Traffic Control Academy in Oklahoma City. After graduation from the academy, they relocate to one of the FAA’s facilities where they begin training to become certified on specific airspace positions for that facilities, Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) or en route center. Certification can take from 18 to 24 months. More than 2,600 air traffic controllers are in various stages of training, the FAA said.