FAA Plans to Hire 8,900 Air Traffic Controllers by 2028

The Federal Aviation Administration announced its Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan (2025–2028) on Aug. 7, 2025, outlining a strategy to recruit at least 8,900 new air traffic controllers by the end of fiscal year 2028. The initiative follows the agency's success in fiscal 2024, where it achieved 1,811 hires against a target of 1,800.

The plan details specific hiring targets: 2,000 recruits for fiscal 2025, followed by 2,200 in 2026, 2,300 in 2027, and 2,400 in 2028. The FAA projects a net workforce growth of over 2,000 certified controllers by 2028, despite anticipating attrition of 6,872 individuals due to training failures and retirements. To facilitate recruitment, the agency is streamlining hiring protocols from eight steps to five, saving applicants over five months in processing time.

Additional incentives include a 30% salary increase for trainees and new retention incentives for retirement-eligible controllers. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy emphasized the plan's role in supporting aviation innovation, including drones, eVTOLs and space travel. National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels praised the incentives as "a meaningful step toward addressing staffing shortages," though noted broader needs for infrastructure modernization. The workforce push responds to ongoing controller shortages causing high workloads and recent safety incidents.