Buttigieg says FAA is about 3,000 air traffic controllers short

Air traffic control in the United States is understaffed by about 3,000 positions, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Friday, as hiring to fill some of that gap opened. The FAA ATC workforce currently numbers about 11,500 controllers, but “the optimal number is closer to about 14,500,” the secretary said on CNN News Central. The numbers are similar to the agency’s assessment this spring that about one in five controller positions nationwide are vacant. “We have thousands of controllers in training right now but also a number who are eligible to retire,” Buttigieg said. He spoke as the agency began hiring on Friday – targeting 1,500 new entry-level air traffic controllers this year – and published an annual report on the agency’s ATC workforce. That report showed the agency hired 1,026 controllers last year, just shy of its targets, acting FAA administrator Billy Nolen told Congress in a letter. The FAA also experienced more controllers leaving the job last year than it had planned, and is further short-staffed because the coronavirus pandemic “has resulted in delayed certification for most existing developmental controllers.” Recently, Nolen told reporters that the agency’s planned 3,300 hires in the next two years will mostly replace those who are retiring. About 500 of those hires will hold positions that are currently empty.<br/>