By Olivia Hart

The United States has about 6% fewer air traffic controllers than it did a decade ago, even as flights relying on the air traffic control system grew 10%, a January U.S. Government Accountability Office analysis found. The evidence points to a training and retention bottleneck, not a compensation problem.

The FAA’s 2026-2028 workforce plan put the certified workforce at about 11,000 as of April, against a target of 12,563. In May, the agency lowered that new goal by roughly 2,000 controllers, citing forecast demand and changes to scheduling and training. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said it was not involved in drafting the plan.

For airlines, controller availability sets the pace of the system. Delta CEO Ed Bastian told Fortune in April that aviation’s biggest AI opportunity lies in air traffic control, not inside the aircraft, because it would produce “quicker travel, more efficient travel.” That makes staffing an airline operating-capacity issue, not merely an aviation-recruitment campaign.

How far behind is the FAA?

The FAA hired 2,235 controller trainees in fiscal 2026, the most in agency history. The record intake still faces a long conversion into certified controllers: applicants must be U.S. citizens under 31 and pass pre-employment tests, a medical examination and a security investigation.

The FAA says less than 10% of all applicants meet the requirements and enter the training program. The GAO found that only about 2% of applicants qualify for and complete the full process.

Can $148,000 pay solve the shortage?

Compensation is not the main barrier. The median American air traffic controller earned $148,080 a year, or $71.19 an hour, as of May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The top 10% earned more than $215,610 a year.

The FAA requires a bachelor’s degree, one year of progressively responsible work experience, or a combination of both. New hires then train on the job for more than a year, and this spring the agency pitched the role to Gen Z video gamers with pay of at least $155,000 after three years.

Job design complicates retention. The BLS says controllers must maintain maximum concentration and commonly work night, weekend and rotating shifts. Tiffany Bisbey, an assistant professor of industrial/organizational psychology at George Washington University, described the occupation as among the most stressful and said research commonly studies controllers for stress.

How did training disruptions deepen the shortage?

The GAO traces much of the decline to repeated interruptions:

• Government shutdowns in 2013 and in 2018 and 2019 froze hiring and training.
• COVID-19 halted training for four months, then held it at reduced capacity for nearly two years.
• High attrition from 2019 through 2024 made recovery harder.

The 2025 shutdown compounded the loss. By November, the FAA said nearly half of major air traffic control facilities were short-staffed as controllers worked without pay.

Why are countries competing for controllers?

CAE projects the world will need 71,000 new air traffic controllers by 2034, or roughly 7,000 annually. Countries from Australia to Qatar compete for the same small pool of certified controllers, recruiting across borders with work visas and pay pegged to experience.

The United States cannot join that bidding war because every FAA controller must be an American citizen. Its domestic pipeline therefore turns away the vast majority of applicants.

Airservices Australia posted a September call for experienced international controllers, offering a work visa, eligibility to transition to permanent residency and what it called a balance between work and leisure. The need became visible at Sydney Airport that month: unplanned absences left eight of 49 controllers unavailable and delayed roughly one-third of inbound flights during a morning.

The contest is already moving trained staff:

• Qatar has recruited Airservices Australia controllers.
• Canada’s NAV CANADA used an outside firm to recruit eight foreign controllers.
• Reuters reported this month that South Africa lost 28 controllers in eight months.

The competition carries a cost for source countries. A CANSO spokesperson said the country that trains a controller usually bears the full cost, even if that controller later leaves.

Can the U.S. hire its way out quickly?

Record hiring still cannot outrun certification. A 2024 pilot allowed graduates of two Oklahoma schools to skip additional FAA Academy training and go directly into facility training. Even so, certifying a controller still takes years.

Bisbey said fast-tracking applicants or compressing training would not provide a safe fix. She suspects the program’s designers believed they needed more training, not less, because “It’s such a high-risk organization, and the training is so arduous for a reason.”

Until the pipeline catches up, travelers should expect more delays. Bisbey believes most will absorb them rather than accept a less safe flight, and she does not expect delays to stop travel.