The U.S. Department of Transportation is offering thousands of dollars to both retiring and newly hired air traffic controllers in an effort to address a shortage of these essential air safety employees.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which is 3,500 air traffic controllers short of its target, unveiled a package that offers controllers who are at the mandatory retirement age of 56 a “lump sum payment” equal to 20% of their basic pay for every year they remain at the job.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says that, in addition to the large payment to retain controllers, the Trump administration plans to offer $5,000 “bonuses” to new graduates from the FAA Academy, with the promise of $10,000 for those who work at hard-to-staff facilities.
Duffy described the new plan as a way to “supercharge the air traffic controller workforce from both retention and hiring side of the equation.”
“Supercharge” is a term Duffy’s been using a lot since February, but experts say that it’s a descriptor without merit.
“It's not going to be enough. The numbers don't add up,” Nicholas Calio, president and CEO of the lobbying group Airlines for America, told Forbes.
Salvage crews recovers wreckage from the mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter on Feb. 6.
This move comes just months after the so-called Department of Government Efficiency firings and coerced retirements at the FAA. After a pressure campaign to push out the FAA’s previous administrator, Michael Whitaker, Trump named former Air Force veteran Chris Rocheleau as acting administrator.
DOGE’s clumsily managed cuts resulted in Elon Musk’s pathetic public attempt to unretire air traffic controllers to replace many of the new recruits that had moved on.
The FAA firings came in the wake of a tragic crash between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial airplane that resulted in 67 deaths. After the crash, Trump and Duffy held press conferences to blame everything from diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to “dwarfism.”
And in April, Tim Arel, COO of the FAA Air Traffic Organization, which is responsible for overseeing air navigation safety, announced that he was stepping down to take early retirement.
The push to fill air traffic controller roles has been ongoing for some time. While the Biden administration succeeded in reaching some of its hiring goals, progress has so far stalled after Trump and Musk took office.
On April 30, Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved legislation that would give the FAA $12.5 billion for modernizing air traffic control—$2.5 billion less than House Republicans’ proposal from the previous day.
Only time will tell if Trump and other Republicans’ chaotic flip-flopping can salvage the FAA.
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