The Federal Aviation Administration announced a reduction in its target number of air traffic controllers on Friday, cutting the goal to 12,563 from a previously stated 14,633. The agency said the change is part of an effort to modernize scheduling practices and to improve operational efficiency across the air traffic control system.
According to the FAA, modern staffing models and improved scheduling tools will be put in place to increase controller productivity and to reduce excessive overtime. As of April, roughly 11,000 certified controllers were employed across more than 300 FAA air traffic facilities. In addition, about 4,000 controllers remain in the training pipeline.
Of those undergoing training, the FAA noted that approximately 1,000 were once fully certified but are now receiving training at new facilities. The agency framed its staffing adjustment and planned system upgrades as responses to an overtime surge and to perceived inefficiencies in workforce allocation.
A report from the National Academies of Sciences last year found that overtime expenditures for air traffic controllers increased more than 300% since 2013, rising to in excess of $200 million. The report attributed the jump in overtime spending to workforce misallocation and inefficient scheduling practices.
The National Academies also observed that the amount of time controllers spend actively managing air traffic has fallen even as traffic has increased by 4%. The report suggested that active management time could be raised from roughly four hours per shift to more than five hours per shift.
In 2024, the FAA's air traffic control workforce recorded 2.2 million hours of overtime, a level of extra work that the agency said cost $200 million. Average annual overtime per air traffic controller increased 308% over the period examined, climbing from 41 hours in 2013 to an average of 167 hours—an increase of 126 hours per controller per year.
The FAA said it will modernize scheduling and workforce management systems to improve efficiency. Details about the specific timeline for those system upgrades or how the new staffing target will be phased in were not provided in the announcement.