{"id":662,"date":"2026-05-18T21:35:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=662"},"modified":"2026-05-18T21:35:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:35:03","slug":"faa-says-better-scheduling-can-address-air-traffic-control-staffing-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=662","title":{"rendered":"FAA says better scheduling can address air traffic control staffing issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>WASHINGTON \u2014 The Federal Aviation Administration significantly lowered its estimate of how many controllers it will need to fully staff the nation\u2019s air traffic facilities, a long-running concern, after determining that it could improve efficiency through better scheduling practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=660\">McKee unveils 6 picks for revamped CRMC. Critics are underwhelmed.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>The change, outlined in a new agency workforce report that was released on Friday, is based on the agency\u2019s determination that making the workforce more efficient would reduce the need for new hires. It outlines plans to increase the time controllers spend actively working when on duty, thus reducing demand for controllers to pull overtime shifts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe can\u2019t continue to operate the same way and expect better results,\u201d Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator, said in a statement accompanying the release of the report. \u201cWe\u2019re changing how we hire, train, and schedule our controller workforce \u2014 and providing them with the state-of-the-art tools they need to succeed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>The report comes as air traffic controllers and the pressures they face on the job have been thrust into a national spotlight following a January 2025 midair collision between a commercial jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter just outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67. But adequately staffing air traffic control towers has been a long-running concern.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>The FAA\u2019s proposed change, according to the report, would reduce overall staffing needs by more than 2,000 positions. Last year, the agency estimated that it would need a total of 14,633 controllers to be fully staffed; Friday\u2019s report put that number at 12,563.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As of last September, the FAA had 10,693 fully certified controllers on staff, with 3,530 more in various stages of training.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe FAA recognizes that hiring alone will not resolve workforce challenges,\u201d the report states.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cImproving time on position represents a significant opportunity to increase effective capacity,\u201d it added, concluding that \u201cthe resulting increase in effective workforce availability would meet current staffing targets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But it is not clear that controllers will agree.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a statement that it had not been involved in the development of the FAA\u2019s new workforce plan, and that it was still reviewing the document.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Some former controllers were more blunt in their reaction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s a bad idea,\u201d said Dave Riley, a recently retired controller who worked in the Denver Airport tower. \u201cThat\u2019s just one metric that they\u2019re looking at, time on position. There\u2019s all kinds of other stuff that controllers have to do throughout the day that count as work being performed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s smoke and mirrors,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In its investigation of the January 2025 collision, the National Transportation Safety Board determined earlier this year that insufficient warnings from the air traffic controller to the pilots involved contributed to the accident.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=658\">With timing of voting rights decision, Supreme Court chose a political scramble<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>In March, a fatal ground collision at LaGuardia Airport between a landing commercial jet and an emergency fire truck that had been given clearance to cross the runway also highlighted concerns about air traffic controller staffing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For years, controllers have been complaining of exhaustion, fatigue, and low morale, as the demands of managing increasing air traffic have expanded faster than the workforce. Last year, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, an advisory nonprofit authorized by Congress, released a report attributing controllers\u2019 difficulties in part to an overreliance on overtime work to keep air traffic facilities adequately staffed. The pressure to work additional shifts increased the likelihood of fatigue, the report stated, increasing the danger of controllers making a mistake in a life-or-death situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>In the wake of that report and the midair collision, lawmakers, regulators, and aviation safety watchdogs have closely scrutinized staffing practices at air traffic facilities, paying particular attention to the practice of having controllers work multiple positions when towers are understaffed. But the FAA\u2019s workforce plan, as outlined in Friday\u2019s report, states that on average, controllers are spending less time working positions in the tower than they were two decades ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In 2008, the report states, controllers spent an average 4.68 hours of every eight-hour shift working air traffic positions, compared with 4.01 hours in 2025. Over the same time period, the average time they spent on other duties during an eight-hour shift rose from 0.91 hours in 2008 to 1.2 hours in 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>By using automated scheduling tools, the report says, the FAA could bring controllers\u2019 schedules into closer alignment with the traffic-based demands of each shift, reducing the need for staffers to work overtime \u2014 and by extension, the overall staffing needs of many facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf the FAA increases average time on position from four hours to five hours per eight-hour shift, the resulting increase in effective workforce availability would meet current staffing targets,\u201d the report states. And adopting more modernized systems, it added, would \u201csupport increases in time on position and reduce inefficiencies in daily operations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span>The report repeats the FAA\u2019s previous commitment to increase the number of new hires it brings into the agency\u2019s training academy, which has historically struggled with high washout rates, as well as efforts to train more controllers through partnerships with universities and colleges. It also echoes previously articulated plans to incentivize controllers eligible to retire to stay on duty if they have not yet aged out of the workforce, such as the bonuses the Transportation Department offered to experienced controllers beginning last year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But the report\u2019s authors acknowledge that those efforts have thus far failed to neutralize some of the main sources of attrition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cDespite the increased incentive to delay retirement, most controllers still leave the controller workforce prior to reaching the mandatory age,\u201d the report states.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=657\">A candidate with no hand and the senator who doesn\u2019t look like the senator: AI seeps into state House campaign materials<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>This article originally appeared in The New York Times.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Aviation Administration significantly lowered its estimate of how many controllers it will need to fully staff the nation\u2019s air traffic facilities, a long-running concern, after determining that it could improve efficiency through better scheduling practices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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