With air traffic controllers in high demand, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he was baffled to see a new federal hiring plan that would result in even fewer.
“We just saw, quietly, a Friday news dump out of the Department of Transportation at the end of last week saying that they were going to cut the target for air traffic control hiring, slash the air traffic control targets by about 2,000,” Buttigieg said May 17 on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Two days prior, the Federal Aviation Administration released its 2026-28 air traffic controller workforce plan that set its new staffing target at 12,563 controllers, down from its forecast of 14,633 outlined in the past two workforce plans.
Buttigieg is right about the staffing target being reduced by around 2,000 people. He leaves out context about why that change happened.
It’s important to know the new staffing goal followed a legislatively mandated review. However, the air traffic controllers’ union favors a previous alternate staffing model that it helped develop and which calls for more controllers.
The FAA remains below its staffing target; as of April 2026, around 11,000 controllers were employed nationwide. Another 4,000 are in training, which can take two or three years after graduating the FAA Academy before full certification.
Buttigieg spokesperson Sean Manning pointed to news coverage that described the plan as a “slash” of air traffic control staffing targets, and referred to skepticism from air traffic controllers.
In a statement, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said it was not involved in developing the new workforce plan and was “surprised” to learn it was based on the 2025 Air Traffic Controller Workforce Imperative, the legislatively mandated review of the two staffing models.
The union had dismissed the review’s staffing model as “the root cause of the staffing crisis we now face.” When asked if the union will negotiate, a spokesperson declined to comment.
The FAA said it plans to allocate staff more efficiently by using modern scheduling tools and by reviewing schedules and each facility’s operation hours to match staffing levels with periods of high demand.
When PolitiFact asked the FAA about the union’s comments, spokesperson Donnell Evans said, “Our new staffing model and workforce plan will enhance the safety and efficiency of our skies.” Evans said the plan originated with an “independent and objective organization with non-partisan experts.”
FAA staffing model is point of contention
Michael McCormick, air traffic management associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said the new staffing model is “an ongoing point of disagreement going back for several decades.” He was part of the workgroup that developed the alternate staffing model which the union prefers.
The FAA model uses calculations and traffic data to determine preliminary staffing levels per facility, takes each facility’s largest staffing number, then adds up the facility staffing numbers to come up with the overall staffing target.
By comparison, the collaborative workgroup model determines on-position hours in a typical busy day and the number of controllers needed. Its methods include surveying facility leaders to draw on local expertise and crosschecking answers with traffic operations data.
The Transportation Research Board committee said the collaborative workgroup model accounts for controllers’ time off, training and other duties. However, concluding that the FAA should use its own model, the committee said the workgroup’s model lacks the ability to “forecast future staffing standards targets based on traffic projection.”
McCormick said automated systems for improving scheduling and productivity are not currently being used, and scheduling changes would be subject to bargaining with the union.
Margaret Wallace, Florida Institute of Technology aviation management assistant professor, said, “Everything depends on what kind of technology they plan to introduce.” There’s been no “real” discussion about that, she said.
McCormick said, “The FAA still needs to hire over 2,000 controllers per year for, at least, the next three years regardless of which staffing model they use.”
