ATC Short Of Staff Worldwide

Looking for news/tweets all around the world concerning ATC staff shortage

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

The air traffic controller cleared the fire truck onto the runway. Seconds later, the same controller screamed “stop, stop, stop.” The plane was doing 93 to 105 mph.

Both pilots are dead.

Everyone will frame this as controller error. One controller was simultaneously managing a United flight that aborted takeoff after an anti-ice warning, dispatching a fire truck across an active runway, and sequencing an inbound Air Canada landing at highway speed. At 11:40 PM. On a mandatory overtime shift at a facility that has been understaffed for years.

A system that assigns one person that workload will produce exactly this outcome. The only variable is when.

The FAA is short approximately 3,000 controllers. The headcount dropped 13% from 2010 to 2024 while flight volume rose 10%. Over 40% of the FAA’s 290 terminal facilities are understaffed. The New York TRACON, which manages the most congested airspace in America across LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark, has been chronically below target. Newark was operating at 59% of its staffing goal. LaGuardia handles 900 flights a day.

The hiring pipeline is broken at every stage. Only 2% of applicants complete the full process. Training takes up to 6 years. The FAA Academy in Oklahoma City is a bottleneck, with roughly 35% of trainees washing out. Congress blocked legislation to build a second academy. In one recent hiring cycle, the FAA brought on 1,512 candidates and lost 1,300 in the same window. Net gain: around 160 controllers for an entire country.

Three things need to happen and everyone who can make them happen has known for years.

Congress needs to fund and authorize a second FAA training academy. One facility in Oklahoma City cannot produce enough controllers for 900 million annual passengers. Members of Congress from Oklahoma have actively blocked this. That needs to end yesterday.

The FAA needs to cut certification time. Six years from application to fully certified controller is absurd. The agency’s own data shows tower simulators reduce certification time by 27%. They’ve installed them at 95 facilities. That should be every facility, and the simulated hours should count toward more of the certification requirement.

The FAA needs to stop plugging staffing gaps with mandatory overtime. Controllers at understaffed facilities are working six-day weeks rotating between morning, mid, and night shifts. The NTSB has flagged fatigue repeatedly. The controller last night was managing overlapping emergencies during a nighttime operation. Overtime is not a staffing plan. It’s a countdown to the next runway collision.

The controller said “I messed up” to a Frontier pilot who watched the whole thing. The pilot responded “No man, you did the best you could.”

One of them is right. The answer determines whether this happens again.

[CATCA @CATCA5454]

NAV Canada is hiring for air traffic controller jobs that pay up to $201,000 https://t.co/obmYYqRXwf

[The Adept Traveler @AdeptTraveler]

Australia’s ATC staffing shortage is forcing wider spacing between aircraft at Sydney, triggering cancellations and rolling delays. Expect fragile recovery, tight same day connections, and limited rebooking options during peak banks.
https://t.co/Ub5CYwe23z

[ATC Short Of Staff Worldwide @of_atc]

Especially at Muan Airport, there were only 6 controllers compared to the ICAO standard of 17, leaving a gap of 11, and the staffing rate was the lowest among all control centers at 35.3%.
https://t.co/0ZdXGWP0OT

[Flightradar24 @flightradar24]

This is currently the operations plan for US airspace. Staffing triggers mean the number of available ATCs is too low for normal operations. The number of staffing triggers listed in the latest plan is at the longest we’ve seen since the beginning of the US government shut down.

[NATCA @NATCA]

Understaffed facilities, mandatory overtime, and unreliable equipment aren’t new problems for America’s air traffic controllers. The government shutdown is putting more strain on an aviation system that is already stretched thin. #EndTheShutdown

[quorumcall @quorumcaller]

3 months later FAA says they are at just 48% staffing for ATCs out of Newark. more than 50% of safety-critical air traffic control positions unfilled in one of the most demanding airspaces in the world! what a disaster

[Flight Safety Foundation @flightsafety]

✈️ One-third of air traffic control (ATC) facilities operated by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had staffing shortfalls of at least 10 percent in the 2024 fiscal year — a condition that led to increased overtime, longer work weeks, and controller fatigue, according to a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Read the full AeroSafety World article here ➡️ https://t.co/7xaemk4yjc

#AviationNews #AviationSafety #FSFoundation #AeroSafetyWorld #ATM #ATC #AirTraffic

[TRB @NASEMTRB]

There is a shortage of air traffic controllers. How can that change?

Despite thousands of applicants for #ATC jobs with the FAA each time jobs are announced, 40% of those eligible don't take the initial selection assessment for the academy.

https://t.co/w0xfa8d42P

[CATCA @CATCA5454]

In the opinion piece 'Canada fixed air traffic control long ago. Why can’t we?', Boston Globe columnist, Jeff Jacoby lays out the stark differences between the U.S. and Canadian systems — outdated technology, chronic underfunding, political gridlock. Yes, Canada’s model may be more modern, more stable - but one truth cuts through it all: neither country has enough controllers.
No matter who runs the system, there is no escaping that reality.
If the difference between Canada and the U.S. shows us anything, it’s that infrastructure and technology mean nothing without the skilled people behind the scope. And those people are being stretched thin.
Read the article here: https://t.co/oE5bU1SKiw
#ATC #AirTrafficControl #CATCA #AviationSafety #ControllersMatter #Modernization #StaffingCrisis #Aviation #publicsafety
________________________
Dans son éditorial intitulé « Le Canada a réglé le problème du contrôle aérien il y a longtemps. Pourquoi ne pouvons-nous pas en faire autant ? », Jeff Jacoby, chroniqueur au Boston Globe, expose les différences marquées entre les systèmes américain et canadien : technologie désuète, sous-financement chronique, impasse politique. Oui, le modèle canadien est peut-être plus moderne, plus stable, mais une vérité s'impose : aucun des deux pays ne dispose d'un nombre suffisant de contrôleurs.
Peu importe qui gère le système, il est impossible d'échapper à cette réalité.
Si la différence entre le Canada et les États-Unis nous apprend quelque chose, c'est que les infrastructures et la technologie ne servent à rien sans les personnes qualifiées qui les exploitent. Et ces personnes sont à bout de souffle.
Lire l'article ici : https://t.co/oE5bU1SKiw
#ATC #ContrôleDuTraficAérien #CATCA #SécuritéAéronautique #LesContrôleursComptent #Modernisation #CriseDuPersonnel #Aviation #SécuritéPublique

[ATC Short Of Staff Worldwide @of_atc]

https://t.co/ZF1SMX1wUX

[ATC Short Of Staff Worldwide @of_atc]

Lexington Air Traffic Control announced that they will be reducing staffing on midnight shifts between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. to "provide better service during the daytime hours when traffic is the busiest."

https://t.co/QvKaZrBLDK

[NATCA @NATCA]

This morning, NATCA President Nick Daniels joined Fox & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade to discuss the critical need for a modernized ATC system and increased staffing to maintain safety and minimize flight delays at Newark, and across the country.

[ATC Short Of Staff Worldwide @of_atc]

"...some controllers are forced to work mandatory overtime and six-day work weeks at many facilities."
Here's Why US Aviation Has Been Experiencing Air Traffic Controller Shortages https://t.co/ykeWvBBHYs

[ATC Short Of Staff Worldwide @of_atc]

"Shortage persists even as hiring intensifies"

United Airlines Reports Major Delays At Newark Airport Due To Ongoing Air Traffic Controller Shortage https://t.co/RJSLSbuPxm

[SPICA Sindicato ATC @SPICAATC]

🛫 España enfrenta un déficit crítico de controladores aéreos. Del 2010 hasta 2024 se han jubilado 656 controladores aéreos y se han ido a la reserva activa 279, lo que supone 935 efectivos menos para el servicio. ✈️.https://t.co/pLKjqf4jXo @transportesgob @ENAIRE @AesaSpain

[Indian Aviation @guardianof_sky]

As good talent now started avoiding ATC profession due extreme exploitation in past decade by government. New trainees who even failed the exams are being passed with substandard exams and put to work. They will handle your lives in the Skies.

[Irish Independent @Independent_ie]

Flight chaos at London Gatwick as over 100 flights cancelled, including Belfast, over air-traffic control staff shortage https://t.co/jp9UZRs16J

[ATC Short Of Staff Worldwide @of_atc]

IFATCA appreciates that air traffic controller staff shortages are finally being recognised as one of the most important delay contributors in the European Network, as we have consistently warned about.
@ifatca

https://t.co/w2p4u0dR1p