U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hired 2,026 new air traffic controllers in fiscal year 2025, exceeding its annual goal.
Duffy said this year’s hiring surpassed the previous administration’s hiring for the same period in 2024 by 20 percent. The agency is on track to hire at least 8,900 new air traffic controllers through 2028, including more than 2,200 in FY 2026.
“Since taking over the Department, I pledged to help place more of the best and brightest Americans into our towers. These latest numbers show our supercharge effort is continuing to hit milestones, and we are making progress on that promise,” Duffy said. “Our work is just getting started. This Department will continue to use every tool at our disposal to chip away at decades of controller staffing declines because the American people are counting on us.”
Duffy announced in February that the FAA would “supercharge hiring” at the FAA Academy. The agency said it has received more than 10,000 applications and has referred more than 8,300 of them to aptitude testing. The FAA has also streamlined the hiring process, the agency said, accelerating the time-to-hire for positions and shaving more than five months off the old process. The FAA said it is focused on filling every seat at its FAA Academy. In August, 600 candidates attended the academy, higher than the previous record, 550 trainees, that attended the academy in July.
“Thanks to Secretary Duffy’s leadership, we are hiring controllers at a record pace,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said. “These are the men and women who keep our skies safe and it’s important to invest in their success as we’re building a modern, resilient air traffic system the American people can rely on for decades to come.”